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THE BOOK OF 
THE PIKE 




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Book ,PkS 5 
Copyright^N?_ 



COEHHGHT DEPOSFK 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 



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in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



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THE AUTHOR FRYING PICKEREL IN CAMP 

(See Chapter XIII) 



THE 

Book of the Pike 



BY 

O. W. SMITH 

Angling Editor "Outdoor Life," 
Authot of "Trout Lore," "Casting Tackle and Methods," etc. 




CINCINNATI 

STEWART KIDD COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



c,v\tf 



COPYRIGHT, lS>aa 

STEWART KIDD COMPANY 




Ml rights reserved 



Printed in the United States of America 

The Caxton Press 

'Everybody Jot Books." Ihis is one of the Interlaken Library. 



M 1 7 1922 

©&A674638 



TO 

"CHUM" AND "JUNIOR NIMROD," 

WIFE AND DAUGHTER, 

Who have borne with the whims, fancies and idiosyncrasies 

of a dyed-in-the-wool-angler, this little book 

is most affectionately dedicated 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. By Way of Introduction 19 

A clearing of the ground for the task. 

II. Literature and History 23 

A general survey of the subject from ancient 
times until the present. 

III. Description of the American Pikes . 33 

Mainly scientific, the matter of nomenclature, 
and how to distinguish the various pikes. 

IV. The Little Pickerels 45 

Their distinguishing marks, habits. Casting 
and fly-fishing for them. 

V. Casting for Great Pike with Artifi- 
cial Lures 58 

Habits of this morose gentleman, with re- 
marks upon proper rods, reels, lines, and 
lures to employ in casting. 

VI. Great Pike and Live Bait ..... 73 

A dissertation upon this much-abused method 
of angling, with a sufficiency of information 
as to tackle, etc. 

VII. Fly-Fishing for Great Pike .... 88 

Some remarks upon a method of angling which 
is seldom indulged in for this fish, with 
words of wisdom regarding tackle. Always 
underneath runs the record of habits. 



VIII. Trolling for Great Pike 1 

When all other methods fail, this wins. How, 
when, and where, as well as tackle. 

7 



02 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

IX. Ice-Fishing for Great Pike . . . . 115 

A description regarding how to set about this 
fascinating sport, with information regard- 
ing the peculiar outfit required. 

X. Muskellunge and Artificial Lures . 128 

Description, where found, habits, and tackle 
required to outwit this wolf of the North. 

XI. Muskellunge and Live Bait .... 142 

When all other methods fail, then live bait, 
tackle required, and how to employ it. 

XII. Trolling for Muskellunge .... 156 

Advantages of method, with description of 
tackle, and directions for handling. 

XIII. The Fine Art of Pike Cooking ... 169 

Not an apology for cooking the fish, but di- 
rections for doing so, with a few receipts. 



APPENDIX 

I. The Possibility of Hybrids Between 

Great Pike and Pickerel . . . . 185 

A scientific dissertation based on an article in 
the "Journal of Heredity." Conclusion is 
that these fish may cross. 

II. A Day's Still-Fishing for Great Pike 

with Live Bait 190 

How it is done. An account of the author's 
greatest battle. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Author Frying Pickerel in Camp, Frontispiece 

Facing Page 
How to Identify a Pike - - - - - 37 

A Study of Heads __-«-- 42 

Shore Casting for River Pickerel - - - 52 

Some Casting Tackle - 66 

A Pair of Great Pike ------ 82 

Some of the Author's Pike Rods - - - - 96 

Spoons - - - - - - - - -112 

A Compact Casting Outfit - - - - 112 

An Ice Outfit for Great Pike - - - - 118 

A 44-PouND Muskellunge - 138 

Spawning a Chautauqua Muskellunge - -158 

Heads of Pike, Pickerel, and Hybrids - - 186 



FOREWORD 

To All My Good Friends of the Angle, Greeting: 

I come to you with another fishing book, not be- 
cause of any particular fitness of myself for the task; 
rather, because there is so much need for the work. 
So far as I know, there is no American book dealing 
exclusively with the pikes, a family, by the way, which 
I think has not received its just due from the great 
host of anglers and angling writers. Of course the 
muskellunge has always been given an honorable place 
among the fresh-water fish of the world, but I under- 
take to prove that there is a place for even the despised 
pickerel in the ichthyic scheme of things; furthermore, 
that on suitable tackle he is a foeman worthy of any 
angler's skill. But read the chapter "The Little 
Pickerels." The reader will find the subdivision "Fly- 
Fishing for Pickerel" something of a revelation I am 
sure. Right here I ask the reader's careful and charit- 
able consideration of any new and original methods of 
angling described or advocated. Do not judge hastily 
or without some experimentation along the lines sug- 
gested. In other words, do not *damn me without 
something further than a hearing. 

Scientific diagnosis of species is gone into with some 
care, for the matter of when a pike is a great pike or 
muskellunge, and not a pickerel, is a question that is 
asked over and over again. I think anyone can readily 
see that a pike as a great pike is just as much of a 

ii 



FOREWORD 

game fish as when he is a muskellunge. Unfortunately, 
this matter will never be settled satisfactorily for all, 
because certain anglers maintain that a lunge is a 
better fighter - than a great pike. Resort keepers are 
insisting that their fish are lunge, when in fact they 
are great pike. Now the truth of the matter is, there 
is just as much sport in playing a thirty-five-pound 
great pike as there is in playing a muskellunge of the 
same weight. 

At first I proposed to call the common pike, the fish 
most widely distributed of the whole family, Esox 
lucius (Great Lake's pike), but a little reflection con- 
vinced me that such a name would be too cumber- 
some to be popular. Neither is it descriptive of a 
fish so widely distributed, for lucius is the pike found 
the world round. After much thought I came to the 
conclusion that "great pike" would be descriptive, 
dignified, easy to use, and altogether happy. In reply 
to a question, Mr. Evermann, one of the authors of 
"American Food and Game Fishes," said that he re- 
garded "great pike" as a very good name indeed for 
a fish regarding which there is more than a little con- 
fusion. Perhaps, too, the name, being a wee bit more 
high-sounding than mere "pike," will lead the anglers 
to feel that in catching great pike they are catching a 
fish worth while, and not a pickerel. A great pike is 
a great pike from minnowhood up, even as a pickerel 
remains a pickerel, and a 'lunge a 'lunge all the days 
of their existence. 

What confusion there is regarding the whole pike 
family! — a confusion that has been accentuated by 
the entrance of a fish that absolutely has no relation- 
ship with the pikes: I refer to the so-called "wall-eyed 



FOREWORD 

pike," which is not a pike, but a perch, as its book 
name, "pike-perch," indicates. However, the book 
name has nothing but its truthfulness to recommend 
it; it is not exactly descriptive and far from easy to 
use. I have urged from the platform and through my 
pages in Outdoor Life the past several years that we 
call the fish "wall eye," an easy name to use and 
sufficiently descriptive. Leave the "pike" off always. 
When we say "pike," always mean pike and nothing 
else. 

There is the so-called great, northern pike, the gray 
muskellunge of a few Wisconsin and Minnesota lakes. 
Now he is no more the "true lunge," as some assert, 
than is his close relative, the Ohio or Great Lakes 
fish, some writers and fishermen to the contrary not- 
withstanding. Call him "northern pike" if you want 
to, but oh, I beg of you, never call the wall-eye a pike! 

I have enjoyed the gathering together of these 
chapters even as I enjoyed their first preparation for the 
pages of Outdoor Life, and I may as well here as any- 
where make my bow to that good magazine for the 
privilege of republication in book form. Also I desire 
to thank Forest and Stream for permission to publish 
in the appendix the chapter on hybridism of pike and 
pickerel, for it first appeared under my name in that 
magazine and brought me many letters from all 
over the country; therefore it seemed wise to me that 
it should appear in this, the first American book 
treating exclusively of the pike family. 

Much of the matter is original, as the reader will 
discover, and many of the first chapters that appeared 
in Outdoor Life have been thoroughly rewritten. I 
have not hesitated to change pages and paragraphs as 

13 



FOREWORD 

necessity has arisen. The book is true to facts in so 
far as I can make it so. That no errors have crept in 
I will not say, for "to err is human," you know. 
Simply I have tried to produce a safe guide for the 
anglers who seek one great group of our fresh-water 
fishes. Whether or not I have done my work well, I 
leave the reader-fisherman and the fisherman-scientist 
to judge. 

I can say in utmost truth that this has been a work 
of love, for I dearly love to catch fish and write of the 
fish I catch. I have tried to get the reader to see that 
not merely the science of the subject, nor the important 
matter of tackle, nor yet the successful taking of fish 
has been my lodestar, but that the getting out into 
God's Out-o'-Doors, where the free breezes blow and the 
flowers tone and scent the air, has been the thing of 
utmost importance. I hold myself to be a sort of 
preacher, a preacher of the gospel of the Out-o'-Doors. 
What we need in this day and age is more men going to 
the woods and waters for doubt's anodyne and care's 
surcease. There is such a thing as the Religion of the 
Open, and it is not mere Godless pantheism, either. 

Perhaps some will criticize me for spinning so many 
yarns, casting my information so often in story form; 
but to them I can only say, "It is not all of fishing to 
fish." I turn from many of our American writers to 
our English cousins, for they take time, some of them, 
to see the flowers and hear the birds sing. I have re- 
lated many an incident, each one, however, I think 
the reader will agree with me teaches some concrete 
lesson, presses home some angling truth. While I have 
no desire that this book become "popular," I have 
tried to write it in a popular style, though I have 

14 



FOREWORD 

studiously avoided slang and vulgarity. I have tried 
to be dignified, yet companionable. I hope I have 
produced a book that readers will pick up long after 
the streams and lakes of the Middle West shall know 
me not, and say not "He was an ichthyologist of parts," 
nor, "He was a great angler," but, "He loved the 
woods and waters." 

In conclusion, let me thank all the correspondents 
everywhere who have helped me build this book. 
Especially would I thank the picture-takers, partic- 
ularly the men of the New York Fish Commission for 
the use of the pictures of Chautauqua muskellunge. 
Whenever possible full credit is given. 

So I hand the volume over to you, reader. May the 
fire leap high and the Red Gods smile upon you. 

The Author. 
Evansville, Wisconsin. 



15 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 



"The pike family are most remarkable for the large size of the head which 
is flattened and the lower jaw which projects. They have a terrible array of 
sharp teeth of assorted sizes, and on the edge of each side of the lower jaw are 
several long, bayonet-shaped fangs — in the larger fish nearly an inch long, 
some of them curved inward like the tusks of a bear." 

—Mr. Louis Rhead, in "The Book of Fish and Fishing." 
2 



Chapter I 

By Way of Introduction 

DURING the years in which I have filled an 
angling editor's chair no single topic has 
elicited more questions than has the pike 
family. To go through my correspondence files amply 
proves the statement. In one month during a certain 
summer no less than sixty-three letters appeared upon 
my desk, their subjects ranging from the time-worn 
question, "What is the difference between a pickerel 
and a muskellunge?" and "Which is the best time of 
the year for muskellunge fishing?" If I were to add 
the questions regarding the relationship of the "wall- 
eyed pike" (pike-perch) to the pike family, I would 
almost double the number. Now I have answered the 
same questions over and over again. Still the stream 
does not diminish; rather, is gradually on the increase. 
Consequently I am convinced that there is real need 
for an American work upon the subject. 

It is my purpose to go into the matter as exhaustively 
as possible, not only treating of the various members 
of the family and the literature of the subject, but 
also writing of tackle and the methods of employing 
it; in fact, it is my purpose to prepare a work that 
shall obviate once for all, the answering of multi- 
tudinous queries. The reader will realize that it is no 
small task I have assigned myself. However, the 
greater the labor expended the greater the reward. 

19 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

Life's profits are always in exact ratio to investments. 
The thing which costs nothing is nothing worth, a 
statement which applies not only to angling lore, but 
to material things and mental wealth as well. 

The angler's success is always in proportion to his 
knowledge and skill. While I realize the importance 
of tackle, am the proud possessor of some valuable 
rods and reels of various makes, I wish to reassert, 
"The angler's success is always in proportion to his 
knowledge and skill." Any man can catch fish when 
the water teems with hungry game, but only a habit- 
wise and skill-wise handler of rod and reel can secure 
a good string of muskellunge when those fish are few 
and far between, therefore shy and wary passing 
belief. A man may be a "lucky fisherman" now and 
again, but if his luck continues week in and week out, 
season in and season out, you may rightly conclude 
that fish-knowledge and skill with tackle, rather than 
the fickle jade Luck, are the secret of the success. Luck 
may be a good mare for a spurt, but she is a poor 
beast for a steady up-hill climb. 

Perhaps I shall step on some brother's ichthyic 
corns before I have finished with the pikes; it will be 
strange if I do not, for every angler is possessed of 
sensitive spots. When I come to write of the little 
grass pickerel,^ that "snake" of sluggish water, as a 
game fish, some will rise up in righteous wrath; and 
when I laud fly-fishing for pickerel as a sport worthy 
the consideration of any descendant of Izaak Walton, 
some, I am sure, will lift hands of piscatorial horror. 
Oh, I realize full well, none better, what I am letting 
myself in for. Still I must, here in my introduction, 
insist that the little pickerel has not received his 

20 



BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION 

proper due at the hands of anglers and angling writers. 
He is not as black, not as green rather, as he has been 
painted from time immemorial. On suitable tackle he 
is a foeman worthy of any angler's skill. "On suitable 
tackle." Therein lies the secret. 

It shall be my purpose, so far as in me lies, not to 
lose sight of the fascination of this particular sport; to 
emphasize the sesthetical, if the reader will allow that 
somewhat effeminately flavored word. I fuss with the 
average angling writer. His instructions are about as 
interesting as an array of vital statistics. I could never 
understand why the attractivity of the sport, the lure 
of the open, the blandishment of God's Out-o'-Doors, 
should not have place even in a book on tackle and how 
to use it. We do not fish just for fish, in all conscience. 
So if I stop to gather moccasin flowers while fly-fishing 
for pickerel, or leave the boat to collect highly colored 
autumn leaves when casting for the fighting muskel- 
lunge, don't find fault. Why should I be other than 
I am, even in a book? He who angles with me must 
become accustomed to my habits, my idiosyncracies, 
or we will speedily dissolve partnership. I have always 
held that flower-gathering and bird-study are an im- 
portant part of fishing; and whether I am fishing for 
aristocratic trout or plebeian pickerel, I take time to 
become acquainted with my surroundings. 

Then, too, what other anglers have said about 
fishing, history and literature, must play its part. 
Pike fishing is an ancient pastime, and there is con- 
siderable literature upon the subject, especially Old 
World literature, for in England the pike is more 
highly thought of than he is upon this side the briny. 
Be it said, however, upon this side there has no work 

21 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

appeared, so far as I know, dealing exclusively with 
the family. Much has been written of the lordly 
muskellunge. It is a "lordly fish," if we are to believe 
the magazine writers, and we will not disagree with 
them; but if the muskellunge is a noble fish, why, in 
the name of all that is reasonable, is not the great 
pike — by which name I propose to designate the large 
pike we all know — just as noble, pound for pound? 
That the muskellunge, pound for pound, is one whit 
more gamy than the great pike I will not for a moment 
admit. So you see, I may get into trouble right here 
in the introduction. 

What I hope to do, in addition to giving some in- 
formation on tackle and methods of angling, is to help 
clear up the matter of names; enable the angler to tell 
the difference between pickerel, pike, and muskellunge, 
impressing upon him over and over again that the 
so-called "wall-eyed pike" is not a pike at all, but a 
perch; tell him what I have learned of the habits of 
the various pikes, and of the tackle employed for their 
capture. It is a "large order," and it will take some 
time to fill it, but we have all the time there is. 

The Author. 



22 



Chapter II 

Literature and History 

"The mighty Luce or Pike is taken to be the Tyrant, as the 
Salmon is the King, of the fresh waters. 'Tis not to be doubted 
but that they are bred, some by generation and some not: as, 
namely, of a weed called Pickerel-weed, unless learned Gesner 
be much mistaken: for he says, this weed and other glutinous 
matter, with the help of the Sun's heat in some particular months, 
and some ponds apted for it by nature, do become Pike. But 
doubtless divers Pikes are bred after this manner, or are brought 
into some ponds some such other ways as are past man's finding 
out, of which we have daily testimonies." — The Compleat Angler. 

IN comparison with the Old World, there is a dearth 
of American literature upon the subject of the pike 
family; indeed, I know of no single work dealing 
with the pickerel, pike, and muskellunge alone. Here 
and there, as in McCarthy's "Familiar Fish," Rhead's 
"The Book of Fish and Fishing," Henshall's "Favorite 
Fish and Fishing" and "Bass, Pike, Perch and Other 
Game Fishes of America," Rhead's "Bait Angling 
for Common Fishes," Dixie Carroll's "Lake and 
Stream Fishing," and books of that ilk, we find 
short chapters dealing with one or all members 
of the family, but that is about all. Upon the 
scientific side of the question we find such brief 
articles as those in Jordan and Evermann's "American 
Food and Game Fishes" and Goode's "American 
Fishes." Then there are bulletins from the United 
States Fish Commission and those states that have 
undertaken to propagate the pikes. Good as all the 
foregoing are, they are not complete enough to satisfy 

23 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

the inquisitive angler, much less the angling literatus 
who derives almost as much enjoyment from angling 
in books as in fishing in lakes and streams. 

Upon the other side of the water, the pike (for they 
do not have the small pickerel and muskellunge) is 
much honored, is fin and scale a part of folklore 
and legend; indeed, as one digs into the cobwebby 
past, it is exceedingly difficult to separate fact from 
fancy. Cholmondeley-Pennell's "Book of the Pike" 
and "Trolling for Pike, Salmon, and Trout," the first 
issued in 1865, the latter somewhat later, are well 
worth the American angler's time and money, e'en 
though he must look in second-hand stores for them. 
William Senior's "Pike and Perch," a volume of the 
well-known "Fur, Fin, and Feather" series, an English 
work issued on both sides of the water, is as complete 
a thing as I know, a single chapter upon "Some Foreign 
Relatives," treating of our purely American pikes. 
John Bickerdyke's "Angling for Pike" is another 
English work worth having, as is "Pike and Other 
Coarse Fish," by Cholmondeley-Pennell, a volume of 
the Badminton Library. In fact, there are so many 
English books, some of them very English, that I can- 
not mention them all here ; but I think I have enumer- 
ated a sufficient number to prove to the curious or 
interested American angler that he need not lack for 
information in so far as the Old World pike is con- 
cerned. Be it said, however, that we Americans 
would not agree with the directions given in the Eng- 
lish books for pike angling. 

So ancient are the early mentions of pike and pike 
fishing and, as pointed out at the commencement of 
the foregoing paragraph, so interwoven is legend with 

24 



LITERATURE AND HISTORY 

fact, that it is extremely difficult to tell where one 
leaves off and the other begins. That Izaak Walton, 
that Nestor of anglers, believed many odd things 
regarding this "Tyrant" is true, to-wit, his statement 
that undoubtedly the fish is sometimes the offspring of 
common pickerel weed. When he tells of two young 
geese being found at one time in the stomach of a pike, 
we are somewhat staggered; but when he soberly 
affirms "A Pike, in his height of hunger, will bite at 
and devour a dog that swims in a pond," we have a 
faint suspicion that perhaps the gentle Izaak was a 
wee bit too credulous, e'en though he adds earnestly, 
"I might say more of this, but it might be thought 
curiosity or worse." Evidently even in his day a 
fisherman's "yarns" were regarded with some sus- 
picion. 

One of the most weird bits of "information" he gives 
us is the following, which he credits to Dubravius, a 
bishop of Bohemia, who wrote a book upon "Of Fish 
and Fish Ponds," and Walton says, asserts he saw with 
his own eyes. I quote verbatim: 

"As he [Dubravius] and the Bishop Thurzo were 
walking by a large pond in Bohemia they saw a Frog, 
when the Pike lay very sleepily and quiet by the shore- 
side, leap upon his head, and the Frog, having expressed 
malice or anger by his swollen cheeks and staring eyes, 
did stretch out his legs and embrace the Pike's head 
and presently reached them to his eyes, tearing with 
them and his teeth those tender parts; the Pike, 
moved with anguish, moves up and down the water 
and rubs himself against weeds and whatever he 
thought might quit him of his enemy; but all in vain, 
for the Frog did continue to ride triumphantly and to 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

bite and torment the Pike till his strength failed, and 
then the Frog sunk with the Pike to the bottom of the 
water; then presently the Frog appeared again at the 
top and croaked, and seemed to rejoice like a conqueror, 
after which he presently retired to his secret hole. 
The Bishop, that had beheld the battle, called his fisher- 
man to fetch his nets, and by all means to get the Pike, 
that they might declare what had happened: and 
the Pike was drawn forth, and both his eyes eaten 
out, at which when they began to wonder, the fisherman 
wished them to forbear, and assured them he was 
certain that Pikes were often so served." 

If we are to accept as fact the legendary ichthyic 
history of England, then we must believe that a mule, 
bending to drink at a stream, was bitten through the 
lip by a pugnacious pike, which would not loose its 
hold, but was drawn from the water. Furthermore, it 
must have been extremely hazardous to bathe in 
English pike water in the long ago, for was not a maid, 
busy with her mistress' washing, seized by the foot? 
Perhaps here is the reason for the modern English- 
man's love for his "tub:" he is fearful of open water. 
I am surprised that Darwin never elaborated it. But 
cheer up; worse is yet to come. 

To write of pike in literature and not mention the 
famous Kaiserweg Lake fish would be to commit an 
ichthyic unpardonable sin. Before he mentions the 
fish from "Swedeland," Walton, with all the canniness 
of a Scot, tells us that Sir Francis Bacon thought that 
a pike might live to be forty years old. Then he pro- 
ceeds to tell of the fish that was put into Kaiserweg 
Lake by one of the German emperors and there lived 
some two hundred and sixty-seven years. Just how 

26 



LITERATURE AND HISTORY 

much truth there may be in the yarn I am unable to 
determine, but it appears in every English angling 
work upon pike read by me. Personally, I regard it 
as highly apocryphal. Yet Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell, 
in his book mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, 
not only relates the story, but also gives a facsimile 
of the ring worn by the fish, with the following transla- 
tion of its Greek inscription : 

"I am the fish which was first of all put into this 
lake by the hands of the Governor of the Universe, 
Frederick II, Oct. 5, 1230." 

As the talented author remarks, it is somewhat 
strange that the engraving found in the old black- 
letter copy of Gesner's famous work, published in 
Heidelberg, A. D. 1606, should have escaped discovery 
for so many years. We are expected to believe that 
this fish grew to the prodigious length of nineteen 
feet and reached the not inconsiderable weight of 
350 pounds! Advocate of light tackle though I am, 
I am not altogether sure that I would be willing to try 
conclusions with that minnow, even with my heavy 
bass rod, which weighs seven ounces. Unfortunately 
for the story, the skeleton, which was for a number 
of years preserved in the Cathedral of Mannheim, was 
found, by a shrewd anatomist acquainted with the 
bones of a fish, to have been lengthened by artificial 
means to agree with the story. But why investigate 
too thoroughly? Has it been altogether a gain to 
discover that Pocahontas did not save the life of 
Captain John Smith, and that the story of George 
and the cherry tree has no basis in fact? Why be too 
matter-of-fact? I do not care to examine any fish 
story too closely. 

27 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

While digging amid the English legends regarding 
this storied fish, it may not prove uninteresting to 
note some of the supposed medicinal properties of the 
pike. One of the most effective remedies for "pleu- 
risies" was derived from the powdered jawbones, while 
the heart yielded up a sovereign remedy for par- 
oxysms. Fair anglers should remember that pul- 
verized pike's eyes is the last word in cosmetics. "The 
liver -of a pike — " but why continue? Enough has 
already been said to prove that the pike was, if not is, 
a veritable swimming country doctor. 

When we turn our attention from the Old World 
pike to the fish of America, we are at once confronted 
with a dearth of legend and story; that is, outside of 
the Indian tribes, who knew the fish and accredited 
it with much lore and occult wisdom. The New World 
angler can but lament the fact that he does not possess 
tomes and tomes, volumes and volumes of ichthyic 
literature regarding his game fish. But our fishing is 
not ancient enough, and we have been too busy and 
too matter-of-fact to manufacture legends. Legends 
are the products of leisure and credulity, neither of 
which is a characteristic of America. We do not 
believe, for instance, that a pike may be the offspring 
of a pickerel weed, but we do hear of "sore-teeth days," 
when muskellunge are supposed to shed their teeth, 
evidence or proof of which I have been unable to dis- 
cover, though I have searched the scientific records 
diligently. Nevertheless, the superstition, if it be that, 
lingers in many localities. Personally, I have yet to 
take my first 'lunge with "sore teeth," or to find evi- 
dence of dental trouble, perhaps because my fishing 
has not been done in August. Even though science 

28 



LITERATURE AND HISTORY 

has nothing to say upon the question, anglers are con- 
vinced that there is a basis of fact for the belief. 

Says Dixie Carroll, the well-known author, in "Lake 
and Stream Game Fishing": "About the middle of 
August the musky*4oses his teeth and his mouth is in 
such shape that it takes something mighty aggravating 
to arouse enough anger to make him forget his sore 
molars and strike." Then, after taking a gentle slam 
at those who do not agree with him, Dixie continues: 
"September tenth of last season I examined three 
musky caught on that day, and in the mouth of each 
was a new set of sharp-edged teeth, firmly set, while, 
hanging loosely in the back, were still the remains of 
the old teeth, which had not entirely parted company 
with their owners." In the face of such testimony 
there is nothing to say, though I beg the reader to 
remember that in lower forms of life rudimentary 
teeth are common. In the rattlesnake, for instance, 
the zoologist finds, lying back of the fang in use, a 
second as perfect, and back of the second a third not 
quite perfect, and back of that another less perfect, 
and so on. In case a rattler loses his fang through 
accident, a second is ready to take its place. The 
whole matter of "sore-teeth days" will not be settled 
until ichthyologists leave the laboratories and take to 
the woods and waters for study. The United States 
Fish Commission knows nothing about the "sore- 
teeth" period. Here a man is permitted to believe as 
he chooses, only this I am sure of: August is a poor 
month for muskellunge fishing. 

Scientifically speaking, the oldest of our American 
pikes, the eastern and western pickerel, both described 
by Le Sueur in 1818, is one hundred years; a very brief 

29 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

period indeed, when contrasted with the recorded his- 
tory of the European pike reaching well beyond the 
thirteenth century. There is an earlier mention of the 
pike, though Le Sueur records it in the same year with 
the pickerels, and we will have to let his date stand. 
The muskellunge, the Great Lakes fish, is mentioned 
by Mitchell in 1824; the Ohio fish by Rafinesque in 
1 81 8; the Wisconsin fish, though often mentioned in 
sporting journals, was not, to the best of my knowl- 
edge, described by a scientist until Jordan put his 
capable hand to the task in 1 888. Naturally, there is 
considerable confusion regarding the matter of the 
muskellunge, the differences between the various fish 
being so slight, forms seeming almost to intergrade, 
that it is wise to postpone the discussion to a later 
chapter, when we can take up the whole question 
carefully. 

As will be seen from the foregoing paragraph, if we 
do not possess ancient ichthyic lore relative to the pike 
family, we have confusion worse confounded in regard 
to descriptions of the various fish. As I have searched 
the early manuscripts and scientific journals, I have 
been more than once cast all adrift by contradictory 
statements and overlapping descriptions. We need 
some wise, scientific angler to straighten out this 
whole matter of pike history and description, and also 
to collect the Indian legends regarding the storied 
northern fish. 

I have already mentioned Henshall's book, "Bass, 
Pike, Perch, and Other Game Fishes of America," as 
readable a work and as authentic as any I know. 
However, it is to magazines of the outdoor class that 
we must go for angling information, though unfortu- 

30 



LITERATURE AND HISTORY 

nately the great majority of those who write for the 
press do not possess even a smattering of scientific 
training. Therefore, while their angling lore is good, 
their scientific (?) dissertations are emphatically not 
worth while. To illustrate: A writer in one of the 
oldest and best of outdoor magazines takes the au- 
thors of "American Food and Game Fishes" to task 
for saying that the muskellunge is native to all the 
Great Lakes, and asserts that to his certain knowledge 
no muskellunge were ever taken from those waters. 
The fact of the matter is, if the author had been 
better acquainted with his subject, he would have 
known that the Great Lakes muskellunge and the fish 
of Northern Wisconsin — which, to his provincial mind, 
is the only true 'lunge — are not the same fish, though 
both are true muskellunge. The book mentioned a 
few moments ago, "American Food and Game Fishes," 
is a safe guide, criticisms to the contrary notwith- 
standing. 

The reason the American pike — and now I speak of 
the whole family — is not more highly appreciated is 
because we have so many more worthy fish in all our 
lakes and streams, the doughty black bass, for instance. 
Just the same, there is fine sport in angling for even 
the despised pickerel, a proposition which I boldly 
affirm and am going to undertake to prove in its proper 
place. After all, the quality of the sport depends 
almost as much upon the angler and upon his tools 
as upon the fish for which he angles. The right sort 
of a man, properly equipped, will get as much sport 
out of angling for sunfish as others will fishing for 
muskellunge with a hand-line. A "contemptible" — the 
word is not mine— river pickerel taken on a fly with a 

3i 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

three-ounce rod will put up a battle that will surprise 
one who has never essayed the game. A chapter on 
fly-fishing for pickerel will find place in this book 
later on. 

I desire my reader to disabuse himself as far as 
possible of all preconceived notions, ideas, and preju- 
dices and approach this whole subject with a mind 
open to conviction. If I do not convince him that I 
am right in my conclusions, likes, and dislikes, I shall 
at least have the satisfaction of knowing that I have 
supplied him with some not easily secured informa- 
tion. Ever since a boy I have been a student of fishes, 
in later years something of a biologist as well as angler, 
almost as much interested in how the animal is built 
as in its capture. Unless you have a penchant for 
scalpel and dissecting knife, know that you can never 
be certain of the identity of any given fish. The 
ichthyologist must ever agree with the poet — "Things 
are not what they seem." As "beauty is only skin- 
deep," so the markings of a fish are only on the surface, 
and specific rank depends upon anatomical differences 
and not mere coloration. 

Before I close this chapter I wish to say a word or 
two for the articles appearing in the various outdoor 
magazines upon fishing for members of the pike 
family. Probably the very best and latest information 
is to be found in the outdoor periodicals. I planned 
to give a list of articles that had been a help and 
inspiration to me, but within a year such a list would 
be antiquated. But read outdoor magazines, bind 
them, or at least make scrapbooks, and in due time 
you will possess a veritable encyclopaedia of fishing. 



32 



Chapter III 

Description of the American Pikes 

"One of the earliest writers by whom the pike is distinctly 
chronicled is Ausonius, living about the middle of the fourth 
century, and who thus asperses its character: 

'Lucius obscurus ulva lacunas 

Obsidet. Hie, nullos mensarum lectus ad usus, 

Fumat fumosis olido nidore popinis.' 

"The wary Luce, midst wrack and rushes hid, 
The scourge and terror of the scaly brood, 

Unknown at friendship's hospitable board, 
Smokes midst the smoky tavern's coarsest food.' " 
— Pennell's "Book of the Pike." 

MY READERS have already discovered that 
America is rich in pikes. The Old World 
can boast of but one species, Esox lucius, the 
fish which, with us, should be known as Great Lakes 
pike or great pike, to differentiate it from the common 
pickerel, though unfortunately that latter name is 
often bestowed upon the Great Lakes fish and even 
the muskellunge itself. Hereafter I shall denote the 
Great Lakes pike — not the muskellunge, you under- 
stand — as Great Pike, and use the name throughout 
this work. 

The great pike is fairly common in all suitable 
waters of North America, Europe, and Asia, the one 
cosmopolitan of the family. In North America we 
have, according to Jordan and Evermann, six addi- 
tional species, to wit, the banded pickerel, little pick- 
erel, eastern pickerel, muskellunge, Chautauqua mus- 
kellunge, and great northern pike or plain 'lunge, 
3 33 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

which with propriety might be called the North 
Wisconsin-Minnesota muskellunge, for the name "pike" 
here is confusing, and the fish is found only in the two 
states named. The great northern pike is a muskel- 
lunge — get that fact clearly in mind; while the great 
pike, sometimes growing to almost fabulous size, is 
but a pike. As there is considerable confusion in the 
minds of anglers regarding the several species of pike, 
it seems wise to devote some time and space to the 
discussion of the subject. 

Perhaps for convenience it might be a good plan to 
tabulate the family, giving common names, scientific 
names, and range, following with a tabloid descrip- 
tion of each species : 

COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME RANGE 

Little pickerel Esox vermiculatus. Upper Mississippi 

Valley and streams 
emptying into 
Lakes Erie and 
Michigan. 

Banded pickerel Esox Americanus . East of the Allegheny 

Mountains, from 
Massachusetts to 
Florida. 

Eastern pickerel. . . . Esox reticulatus. . . Common everywhere 

Green pike east and south of 

the Alleghenies, 
from Maine to 
Arkansas; common 
in the Ozarks. 

Common pike Esox lucius From New York and 

Great Lakes pike. . . Ohio northward. 
Pickerel Common in Can- 
Jack ada. Not found on 

Great pike (name the Pacific Coast 

used in this work). outside of Alaska. 

The one member of 
the family found in 
four continents. 

34 



DESCRIPTION OF THE AMERICAN PIKES 



COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME RANGE 

Muskellunge Esox masquinongy Native of all the 

'Lunge masquinongy. . . Great Lakes, upper 

St. Lawrence River, 
and tributary 
streams ; also cer- 
tain northern lakes. 



Ohio muskellunge . . 
Chautauqua mus- 
kellunge 



Great northern pike. 
Plain muskellunge. . 
Plain 'lunge 



Esox masquinongy 
Ohiensis 



Esox masquinongy 
immaculatus 



Chautauqua Lake 
chiefly, but has 
been reported from 
certain portions of 
the Ohio Valley. 

Only found in Eagle 
Lake, Wis., and 
other small lakes in 
the northern part of 
that state and also 
in Northern Minne- 
sota. 



The first three fish mentioned deserve the name 

"pickerel," a cognomen which, by the way, should 

never be applied to any other pike. Bear in mind 

that the pickerel is not a small great pike. It will 

remain a pickerel all the days of its aqueous existence. 

The fisherman can easily tell whether or not a given 

/specimen is a pickerel or an immature great pike. If 

iboth cheeks and gill-covers are covered with scales, 

lit is the former. Hold that one fact in mind and you 

will never be confused. A great pike has cheeks 

covered with scales, while the lower half of gill-covers 

are bare. Always a pickerel has both "squamated," 

that is, scaled all over. 

To describe the three pickerels is hardly necessary, 
the Mississippi Valley fish not being found in the 
eastern portion of the country, while the two eastern 
pickerels are not found in the West. The western 
pickerel is almost a duplicate of the banded pickerel-— 

35 




HOW TO IDENTIFY A PIKE 

i. Pickerel— Note both the cheek and gill-cover are fully 
scaled. 

2. Great Pike — All of cheek and half of gill-cover scaled. 

3. Muskellunge — Upper halves of both cheek and gill-cover 

scaled ; naked below. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE AMERICAN PIKES 

indeed may be said to be the western representative 
of that fish — and is found in all weedy and sluggish 
streams throughout its range. It is a small fish, a 
"boy's fish," seldom attaining greater length than a 
foot and a weight of a pound or so. Though many 
anglers affect to despise both these fish, I can enjoy a 
day with the little fellows if properly equipped, as 
will hereinafter appear. 

The eastern pickerel or green pike is something of a 
rish, under favorable conditions reaching a length of 
two feet or so and attaining a weight of several pounds. 
This fish is built more on the lines of a great pike, 
though the coloration is markedly different. The 
belly is always white, while the sides are an olive- 
brown or greenish, with a sort of goldenrod luster. 
The lower fins are often pink, sometimes almost red. 
The sides are covered with dark lines and streaks, 
oblique and horizontal, forming a sort of rough net- 
work, hence the name sometimes bestowed upon it, 
"chain pickerel." Of course, reticulatus is never found 
in the Middle West, so there is little danger of con- 
fusing it with vermiculatus, if that were . possible. 
Later on when we come to talk of fishing for pickerel, 
we will class these three fish as one, for the methods 
used in angling for one may well be employed for all. 

Undoubtedly more than one-half of the so-called 
pickerel taken in the Middle West are great pike, the 
cosmopolite of the family. If, as the fish savants 
assert, vermiculatus seldom attains a weight much 
in excess of a pound or two, then the great ma- 
jority of the "pickerel" caught in the Mississippi 
Valley are something else; for in my experience the 
average fish is somewhat heavier. If the angler will 

37 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

bear in mind the one point mentioned regarding all 
pickerel — the squamation of cheeks and gill-covers — 
and will take pains to examine his captures, he may be 
certain of their identity. Any pike with cheeks covered 
with scales, while the gill-covers are decorated on the 
upper portions only, is a great pike — the great pike. 

We have to do with a real fish now, a pike worth 
while. Personally, I had just as soon fish for great 
pike as muskellunge, for the former will attain a 
weight of forty pounds or so, a sixteen- or twenty- 
pound fish being not at all uncommon. Pound for 
pound, I cannot see much difference in the game 
qualities of the great pike and the muskellunge, though 
I cannot imagine what anglers will do to me for con- 
fessing such heresy. To my notion, in cold water a 
great pike is every whit as gamy as a muskellunge. 

As this fish coexists with the Great Lakes muskel- 
lunge, the angler should be able to tell the two apart, 
which is an easy matter if he has impressed upon him- 
self the cheek and gill-cover scaling of the great pike. 
Cheeks fully scaled and only upper halves of gill- 
covers. The muskellunge, on the other hand, can show 
scales only upon the upper halves of both. If the angler 
discovers that a capture of his is without scales upon 
the lower halves of cheeks and gill-covers, he may be 
assured that he has taken a muskellunge, no matter 
what its shape or color or markings. However, in 
body-form and color the great pike does not ordinarily 
resemble the muskellunge, being more "pot-bellied" 
and of a darker hue. 

The coloration and markings of the great pike are 
more constant — at least, so it is said — than that of 
any other member of the family. The ground color is 

38 



DESCRIPTION OF THE AMERICAN PIKES 

a dirty greenish-gray, darker on the -back, and paling 
to a clear white on the belly. The sides, from head 
to tail, are decorated with many irregular, oblong, 
yellowish-white spots, each usually smaller than the 
eye, and of a lighter shade than the ground color. 
Ofttimes it seems as though the spots or blotches were 
arranged in rows running from head to tail, though 
this is not a constant feature, or rather is a case where 
the eye of the observer is deceived. Lay a rule along 
the side of a fresh-caught fish and discover for your- 
self. The caudal, dorsal, and anal fins are also spotted 
or splashed with dark spots, darker than the ground 
color. The head is large for the size of the body, 
sometimes being one-fourth as long, while the jaws 
open wide and are armed with a truly formidable 
array of strong teeth. Ill betides the angler who is 
unfortunate enough to get his hand caught between 
those cruel jaws. 

When we turn to the muskellunge of the Great 
Lakes, a muskie which some anglers say does not 
exist, we are confronted with a fish very similar in 
appearance to the great pike just described. We 
have the same general body-form, though often more 
"pot-bellied," as was pointed out. Of course, here only 
the upper half of the cheeks and gill-covers can show 
scales, because it is a muskellunge. While in the 
great pike the markings were of a lighter shade than 
the ground color, in the muskellunge the markings 
are darker, and in old fish may show a tendency to 
coalesce. The general effect is that of a dark gray 
body, with blackish oval spots superimposed. The 
Chautauqua and Ohio fish is of a greenish-brassy 
shade, the darker spots coalescing and forming broad 

39 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

vertical bars of a darker green which do not break 
up distinctly into spots. The fin-spots are greenish 
rather than black. The North Wisconsin fish, Esox 
immaculatus, differs from the first muskellunge men- 
tioned, in having the body entirely unspotted, some- 
times with indistinct darker cross-shades. 

It is this fish of the smaller Wisconsin and Minne- 
sota lakes which is responsible to a great extent for 
the confusion in some anglers' minds. So different is 
it in appearance from the others that they are inclined 
to argue that the other muskellunge do not belong to 
the Esox nobilior, as some ichthyologists prefer to 
denominate the muskellunge. Jordan and Evermann, 
whose classification I follow, and who are responsible 
for the three species, confess that the Wisconsin- 
Minnesota form has not been studied critically in 
relation to the other two. Personally, I have not had 
sufficient opportunity to study the Chautauqua fish to 
render an opinion, though by the mere fact that the 
Wisconsin-Minnesota angler is so determined that his 
is the only true muskellunge, I am quite convinced the 
markings of his particular fish must be very uniform 
and well denned. So far as my own observation has 
gone, the Wisconsin-Minnesota fish does differ in ap- 
pearance, though not in squamation, branchiostegals, 
dentition, or body-form from the Great Lakes denizen. 
As all anglers know, the classification of fish depends 
not upon appearance or coloration, which are largely 
the result of food and environment, but upon ana- 
tomical or structural differences. 

All ichthyologists are not agreed that there are 
three varieties of muskellunge, maintaining that the 
asserted differences are not constant. Dr. James A. 

40 



DESCRIPTION OF THE AMERICAN_PIKES 

Henshall, the well-known savant, in "Bass, Pike, 
Perch, and Other Game Fishes of America," speaking 
of this matter says (I quote by permission) : 

"I have examined and compared specimens from 
the St. Lawrence and Indian Rivers, New York, Lake 
Erie, the Wisconsin Lakes, Lake Pepin, Chautauqua 
and Conneaut Lakes, Scioto and Mahoning Rivers in 
Ohio, and have seen preserved heads of large ones 
from Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and found that 
they all agree so well in the number of branchiostegals, 
squamation of the cheeks and opercles, in dentition, 
fins, and measurements, that they must all be con- 
sidered one and the same species. At the Chicago 
Columbian Exposition there were some twenty very 
large specimens of mounted skins from Canadian 
waters in the exhibition of the Ottawa Museum which 
showed well the variations in markings. Some still 
showed dark spots on a gray ground ; others were more 
or less distinctly barred with broad or narrow bands; 
others showed bars and diffused spots; and still others 
were of a uniform slate or grayish coloration, without 
markings of any kind. In the museum of the Cuvier 
Club, in Cincinnati, there are quite a number of 
mounted skins of muskellunge from the Wisconsin 
lakes, mostly large ones. They also show all the 
various markings, as well as those of a uniform col- 
oration." 

When scientists disagree, what wonder that mere 
anglers quarrel? Perhaps it will be some time before 
the whole matter is threshed out and the status of 
the muskellunge fixed. Till then let each angler keep 
his temper and add his bit to the information on the 
subject. My guess is that never will we regard all 

4i 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

muskellunge as belonging to one species, for the maker 
of scientific names is abroad in the land, eager to have 
his cognomen attached to some one of God's creations. 
Suffer this word of exhortation, brothers of the angle, 
remembering what has been said upon the marks of 
the muskellunge: Do not say that the other fellow's 
fish is not a true muskie simply because its coloration 
is not like yours or was not caught from your water-shed. 

To show how restricted some would make the range 
of the "true muskellunge," casting out all but one 
particular form as "mere pickerel," let me quote from 
a magazine article supposed to be authoritative: 

"Its distribution is not extensive; in fact, it seems 
to be limited to the lakes and rivers of the Upper 
Mississippi system and to portions of Canadian St. 
Lawrence waters. It is a strange circumstance that 
in the United States the muskellunge is never found 
in the St. Lawrence waters. In Wisconsin, where the 
watershed is narrow, and the lakes flowing into the 
rivers which are tributary to the St. Lawrence are but 
a quarter of a mile distant in many cases from the 
lakes emptying into the rivers of the Mississippi 
system,- the muskellunge will be numerous in the 
latter waters, but entirely absent from the former." 

So this author, who evidently knows the fish of his 
district and how to angle for it, would reject as spurious 
the so-called Chautauqua muskellunge, and with it, of 
course, all the work accomplished at the Chautauqua 
Hatchery by Dr. Bean and his associates, who have 
successfully propagated what they supposed were 
muskellunge! The preacher may have been right, and 
too much knowledge is a weariness to the flesh, but a 
judicious amount will prevent some egregious errors. 

42 




A STUDY OF HEADS 

Head of a Large Chautauqua Muskellunge. (Note the plain scaling 

on cheek and gill-cover.) 
Head of Same Fish. Front View. (Note the well-developed teeth.) 

Courtesy N. Y. Fish Commission. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE AMERICAN PIKES 

I hold the resort men responsible for helping to 
confound the muskellunge question, for they have ad- 
vertised muskellunge fishing, knowing that men think 
it an honor to take that fish, when what they had to 
offer was great pike fishing. Now the great pike is 
under no necessity of swimming under borrowed fins. 
He is well able to care for himself as a plain, pugna- 
cious great pike. As I have said before, and will en- 
large upon later, I had just as soon go up against an 
eight-pound great pike as a muskie of the same weight. 
Fin for fin and scale for scale, I regard the former as 
doughty an antagonist as the latter. Quite recently 
there was shipped me from a Wisconsin resort the 
head of a "muskellunge" which was said to have 
weighed thirty-two pounds, and gave his lucky captor 
a busy twenty minutes. Now that head — cheeks fully 
scaled, gill-covers half scaled — disclosed a great pike. 
Could that fish have rendered greater sport had he 
worn cheeks and gill-covers half scaled? In the name 
of Father Izaak, let us be fair to the great pike. 

As to the edibility of the members of this family, 
there is no great unanimity of opinion. Most anglers 
give the muskellunge high rank, the great pike low 
rank — if under two pounds, and they call him ' 'pickerel' ' 
or "watersnake," no rank at all; while the little pickerel, 
the creek fish, should hardly be mentioned in good 
ichythic society. As to just why a muskellunge should 
be regarded as "good eating," and a great pike of the 
same size "poor eating," is beyond my comprehension. 
The habits and food of the two fish are practically 
the same — almost anything from a tin can to a member 
of its own family. I cannot discover much difference 
between the flesh of the two fish. All depends upon 

43 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

the water inhabited. I have found a five-pound great 
pike from the waters of Lake Superior good eating, a 
twenty-one pounder very tasty, though slightly dry, 
and I have enjoyed fried river pickerel when they were 
taken from a one-time trout stream. I think, to bor- 
row one of Walton's expressions regarding another 
matter, he who turns down the great pike as an article 
of food is "a little too superstitious." Unquestionably 
no member of the pike family can be compared either 
to the yellow perch, wall-eye — "pike-perch" or black 
bass as a pan fish. However, later we may revert to 
this question again, giving some cooking directions, 
as I did in "Trout Lore," for the aristocrats of cold 
water; for the pikes, as quaint Izaak observes, properly 
cooked, are "choicely good." 



44 



Chapter IV 

The Little Pickerels 

"The apostles, though they were fishers, too, were of the 
solemn race of sea-fishers, and never trolled for pickerel on in- 
land waters." — Henry David Thoreau. 

THE hermit of Walden was neither an angler nor 
a fisherman, yet he sensed the attractivity of 
pickerel fishing. Angling for pickerel is not the 
serious business that fishing for Atlantic salmon is. 
It is not the goal, but the journey thereto, that counts. 
Never for a moment does the possible outcome of the 
battle worry the pickerel angler. What if the fish 
escape; are there not others as small? What if no fish 
rise; are not the trees, flowers, and birds ever present? 
Says the author just quoted (Thoreau): "I have 
frequently seen a poet withdraw, having enjoyed the 
most valuable part of a farm, while the crusty farmer 
supposed that he had got a few wild apples only." 
I leave the reader to construct a paraphrase for him- 
self. Pickerel fishing is for the poet-angler. Unless 
you can creel something beside a few bony fish when 
you angle, for pickerel, you had best omit this chapter. 
In the preceding chapter I described the three 
pickerels of the United States — the eastern pickerel 
(Esox reticulatus) and the banded pickerel (Esox 
Americanus) being found east and south, while the 
little pickerel or grass pike (Esox vermiculatus) is found 
north, and west. Bear in mind, any pickerel may be 

45 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

known by the fact that both cheeks and gill-covers are 
fully covered with scales, and that is all you need to 
remember for identification. If other arrangement, 
you may have a young great pike or even muskel- 
lunge. Pay no attention to the matter of color and 
spotting. As the habits of the three pickerels are 
practically identical and the method of angling for 
one is the method to be employed for all, henceforth 
in this chapter I will write of pickerel as though there 
were but one species. 

The pickerel is essentially a. river fish, though he 
may be taken from shallow, weed-infested ponds. He 
is not a lover of overly deep water or cold streams. 
Like the great pike, spawning early in spring, as soon 
as the ice goes out you will find him making his way 
upstream or seeking Out the shallows close inshore for 
spawning purposes. As the pickerel and great pike 
spawn at the. same time, there is a possibility of a 
cross or hybrid (see appendix). Spawning accom- 
plished, the fish takes up the even tenor of its way, 
lying in wait amid weeds and rushes or habituating 
itself in a reedy or rooty pool, from which it can dash 
in pursuit of some luckless minnow, mouse, or frog. 
Indeed, like all members of the Esox family, anything 
that can satisfy hunger is grist for its mill. None of 
the pickerels are as solitary in their habits as are the 
great pike and muskellunge. Once locate a "pickerel 
hole," and it is almost a safe bet that the understand- 
ing angler can take all of the little fish he desires. Yet 
one must proceed with considerable circumspection, 
for the fish is more wary than the uninitiated imagine. 

The western fish, small in size, is not so much sought 
after by anglers, though the eastern pickerel, ranging 

46 



THE LITTLE PICKERELS 

anywhere from one to eight pounds, is highly thought 
of by some fishermen, not to mention the ubiquitous 
small boy. However, I dare defend even the little 
pickerel as a "game fish;" that is, when hooked on 
proper tackle. When one reads of fishing for pickerel 
through the ice, a fascinating sport to be described 
later on in this work, it is usually the eastern pickerel 
(Esox reticulatus) and the great pike (Esox lucius) the 
writers have in mind. One should not troll for pickerel : 
the fish run too small, and there is a better method, 
namely, casting. 

Casting for Pickerel 

This is essentially shore casting, for few ideal pickerel 
streams are navigable for even canoes, so choked are 
they with fallen trees and drift; but where one can get 
along with a light craft, casting from a -boat may be 
indulged in. Nevertheless, the problems confronting 
the shore-caster are so many and so difficult of solu- 
tion that I give that method first place. The average 
pickerel river presents tangled banks — woodbine, star 
cucumber, and clematis festooning sumac and prickly 
ash with an almost impenetrable tangle of cobwebby 
streamers and rope-like vines. To secure and main- 
tain a casting position is sometimes a problem. More 
than once I have made my perilous way out upon a 
protruding log, only to discover that I had neglected 
to figure out some way of netting a hooked fish, my 
light tackle being inadequate to lift the capture by 
main strength and awkwardness. Yes, more than 
once I have found myself in the position of the man who 
needed someone to help him let go the bear. As be- 
tween the value of a twenty-dollar one-piece casting 

47 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

rod and a two-cent fish there is not much room for 
argument. Standing upon a projecting log or trunk 
of a dead tree some ten feet above the surface of the 
water, I have invoked high heaven to rid me of the 
very thing I had journeyed far to capture. 

As intimated in the foregoing chapter, tackle for 
such fishing (casting) should be of the most delicate. 
The lightest one-piece tournament split bamboo, if you 
are adequate to that sort of tool; if not, then a five- 
foot six-inch steel. The latter is not likely to break, 
even should you fall from some precarious position 
into a "bramble bush and scratch out both your eyes." 
The former may be broken on a ten-inch pickerel in 
an unwary moment should you lose your head. About 
the only reel at all adapted to such a stream as I have 
in mind at the moment is one of the self-spooling 
variety; the angler will have other employment for 
his left hand than spooling a line. Where there are 
open fishing, clear banks, and wide pools, there is 
nothing equal to that aluminum tournament reel with 
large spool. Use the lightest quadruple multiplier 
possible to procure. Do not imagine because your 
game is "nothing but a river snake" that the tackle is 
unimportant. The smaller and less resourceful the fish, 
the more important the question of tackle. Always re- 
member when angling for small fish it is not strength 
of tackle, but lightness, that makes for sport. The 
lure should be a small surface or surface-underwater, 
brightly colored, reds, yellows, greens and whites, 
singly or in combination. Let the line be a small- 
caliber soft braided silk, No. H or finer; a tournament 
"thread" will provide thrills. 

In casting from the shore, the angler must fish the 
48 



THE LITTLE PICKERELS 

far side of the stream. A little experience will soon 
instruct the observing where to shoot the lure. Over- 
hanging banks, grassy shores, snags, and piles of drift 
may all shelter fish, though pickerel are not so much 
given to lairs as are bass, preferring the shady side of 
a shallow pool. I have already pointed out that the 
fish is inclined to gregariousness, one strike being but 
the precursor of others, if the angler handle his lures 
with skill and wisdom. Do not over-cast. If the fish 
follows the lure in, wait a bit before casting a second 
time, or cast in some other direction. Do not reel in 
too swiftly; for, while the pickerel can swim at a rapid 
rate, he is quite apt to regard a swiftly moving lure 
with suspicion. I am inclined to believe that the lure 
should strike the water without much commotion; 
for, unlike the bass again, this fish seldom strikes the 
lure at the instant of its impact upon the water. Let 
the ripples chase themselves shoreward before you 
begin to reel. There is something about the splash of 
the lure which seems to awaken the suspicions of the 
fish, and they will often follow the lure some distance, 
just a few inches behind the rear hook, without striking; 
indeed, it is not uncommon for them to follow right 
up to the angler's feet without manifesting any tend- 
ency to strike. Reeling by "fits and starts" will 
sometimes induce a reluctant pickerel to strike if at 
all in the mood. 

We all remember Walton's apothegm regarding "no 
bad horse of a good color," as applied to weather. And, 
with all due respect and consideration for that wise 
saying, let me say that the weather and time of day 
have considerable influence with pickerel and his larger 
relatives. In warm weather the early morning is far 
4 49 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

and away the best time for casting, evening taking 
second place, though a close, mizzling day, with a 
menace of thunder in the air, is ideal. Then, if ever, 
pickerel will rise. Upon a cold, blustering day one will 
be compelled to resort to live bait, more regarding 
which when we take up the study of the great pike. 

Speaking of the weather reminds me of a rather 
unique experience a few summers ago, the narrating 
of which has been reserved through the passing seasons 
for this work. I, in company with a lifelong friend, 
was fishing a little unimportant river which finds its 
tortuous way into Green Bay, an arm of Lake Mich- 
igan. Time was when the stream contained that 
aristocrat amid fresh- water fishes, the speckled trout; 
but the encroachment of farmers had quenched feeder 
springs, and the temperature of the water had risen 
above the durance of the aristocrat, his place in time 
being taken by the humble chub and much-maligned 
Esox vermiculatus. The stream had disappeared from 
the map so far as outside anglers were concerned, the 
small boy and cane pole alone remaining to mark its 
ichthyic course. For an angler with rod and reel to 
appear upon its banks was to invite the good-natured 
contempt of the farmers through whose land it made 
its way. Nevertheless, my companion and I in due 
time parked our cars close to the water's edge, where, 
in days long gone, Indians had erected their conical 
wigwams. 

My first cast out upon the placid surface of the little 
pool before us resulted in a "short rise." Slowly reeling 
in, I saw the little pickerel following the lure at a safe 
distance. Probably it was the first "wobbler" he had 
ever seen. Waiting a few moments for the water to 

50 



THE LITTLE PICKERELS 

"rest," I cast again and reeled in slowly. He struck, 
and the lithe rod, built especially for such baby casting, 
set the hook firmly without any effort on my part. 
The battle was on. Yes, it was a battle. Snags above 
and below offered the fish safe refuges, provided he 
could reach them; then, too, the rod weighed a scant 
three ounces. The initial cast was something like ioo 
feet. The odds were all in the fish's favor. Not caring 
if I lost him, I could bend all my energies to playing in 
the most approved manner. Right there lies the great 
attractivity of such angling — the playing. The fish 
itself is of no importance. In due time I lifted the 
little fellow from the water and, with a sharp knife- 
blade thrust through the spine just back of his head, 
ended his career. Back of me were the women with 
waiting fry-pans. 

We separated. I fished up- and my friend down- 
stream. The river was alive with pickerel and I 
thoroughly enjoyed the sport. It was the game of 
childhood reversed. Instead of playing at being a 
man, I was playing at being a boy. The day grew 
unaccountably hot, with a continuous mutter of thun- 
der in the west and north. The air was perfectly still ; 
not a ripple disturbed the surface of the little pools, 
while even the ever-trembling leaves of the asp forgot 
to shiver. Awesome thunderheads, shading from pure 
white above to blackest nimbus below, appeared above 
the treetops. I spent little time studying the heavens. 
The pickerel were feeding, and that was enough for 
me. The sky became dark and thunder boomed and 
crashed around me. I was a fool, I am willing to 
admit now, but I fished on. 

Perhaps I was half a mile above the party, when I 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

was startled by what I took to be a stone striking the 
water just beyond the tip of my rod, followed imme- 
diately by a second and third. Thinking that my 
chum was playing tricks, I turned to the brush back 
of me and admonished him to "cut it out." Still 
stones and more stones fell. A severe thump on top 
of my head brought me to a realization of the situa- 
tion. Thor was not only letting fly his thunderbolts, 
he was also pelting me with hailstones as large as 
hickory nuts. It was a terrific storm while it lasted, 
and effectually ended our pickerel fishing for the day. 
It was a wet and bedraggled party, nursing innumerable 
"sore spots," which made its way back to town. 

Fly-fishing for Pickerel 

The man who has not learned to angle for incon- 
sequential fish with fly-rod and click-reel has neglected 
a very pleasurable sport indeed. There is no game or 
near-game fish that will not rise to a properly offered 
fly. I speak after years of experimentation. Else- 
where I have told of the attractivity of fly-fishing for 
sunfish, and later on in this volume I shall tell of fly- 
fishing for great pike, a sport for kings, whether from 
boat, bank, or knee-deep in the sedge. Fishing for 
river pickerel, as the little pike is often called, is truly 
enjoyable if the angler possesses requisite tackle, does 
not demand too much strength from the fish, or ex- 
pect too much from the flesh when it is in the pan. 

A three-and-one-half- or four-ounce rod is none too 
light for the little pickerel, and even should one of the 
the larger great pike happen to take the fuzzy-wuzzy 
lure, if the angler be expert enough, he can net it with- 
out trouble. I would advise a single-action reel, which 

5* 










SHORE CASTING FOR RIVER PICKEREL 

1. The Rise. 

2. All In. 



THE LITTLE PICKERELS 

I would not do if angling for great pike, for reasons 
which will appear later. The lightest reel will prove 
none too light if it balance the rod. For ease in cast- 
ing, the medium-sized regular enameled silk line is 
recommended. I would have the line of a shade to 
harmonize with the color of the water to be cast over. 
As to flies, select flamboyant patterns like "Silver 
Doctor," "Scarlet Ibis," "Jungle Cock," "Royal 
Coachman," etc., tied to regular bass hooks. The 
flies cannot well be too large. If you have any skill 
in fly-tying, fashion something for yourself of brilliant 
colors with streaming tail. I once made some mistake 
in feather dyeing, and instead of securing the desired 
color, produced a shade of purple of unimaginable 
brilliance, unlike any color ever seen tinting wing of 
gauzy ephemera of lake or stream. Yet those feathers 
made wonderfully alluring flies. A peacock-herl body, 
purple hackle, streaming purple and crimson tail 
feathers formed a fly pickerel and great pike seemed 
unable to resist. The point to remember in fly-fishing 
for members of the pike family is that the unusual is 
apt to prove successful. I doubt very much if these 
fish strike at the moving object because it looks like 
some accustomed food, but because it moves, and is 
therefore something that will satisfy an insatiable 
appetite. The pickerel is not a particular feeder. 

As to the method of handling flies, little need be 
said. I take it for granted that the reader knows some- 
thing of the methods of casting flies and lures. If you 
have ever taken black bass on artificial flies, you will 
experience no difficulty in hooking pickerel. He takes 
the fly with a rush usually, and, like the man who 
marries in haste, repents when he has ample time for 

53 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

repenting. One should cast exactly as in bass fly- 
fishing, allowing the flies to settle well in the water 
before reeling in, and reel slowly with a right and left 
jerking motion unless the current prevents. Which 
leads me to say that if the river possesses much cur- 
rent, the fish will be found in pools above jams, in 
eddies and elbows of the stream. Cast upstream and 
reel with the current. Do not hurry. The fish has 
all the time there is and so have you, or you would not 
be fishing. 

You will often see, as in bait casting, the little fellow 
following the fly in, a trick he may repeat again and 
again. Do not worry or become overly anxious for 
him to strike; he is only investigating. More than 
once I have compelled the fish to "take" by simply 
drawing the fly through the water quite rapidly and 
then stopping suddenly, the result being that the 
pickerel would take the fly instantly, overrun it, as it 
were, to all appearances without intending to do so. 

Not always, however, is a pickerel hooked when the 
fly is mouthed. The fish has an armor-plated mouth, 
not easily penetrated by the hook. The angler must 
"set" the hook with an exaggerated "wrist motion." 
Swing the rod sharply to the right or left, as the case 
may demand, against the current if possible. Always 
keep control of the fly. A slack line is suicidal so far 
as "net results" are concerned. The only place for 
haste in pickerel fly-fishing is when the fish has over- 
run the hook; then strike instantly, upon the fraction 
of a second, or the lure will be rejected. Verily there 
is more to the game than first appears, and, wanting 
better sport, it is rare fun. 

I well remember a shallow pond in North Minne- 

54 



THE LITTLE PICKERELS 

sota, called by courtesy only a lake, upon which I have 
had unlimited sport with pickerel. The shores, sedge- 
grown, were wadeable, which added to the fun. There 
is never quite the sport in casting from a boat or river 
bank, that there is in working along waist-deep in 
water and playing your fish with rod held high in the 
air. Even a small pickerel can puzzle an experienced 
fisherman under such conditions. 

Upon the lake of which I write, one "mosquito day" 
(every Minnesotian knows what I mean) the last of 
June some twenty years ago, I was working along the 
edge of sedge and pickerel weed just as the sun poked 
his red rim above the rolling prairie to the east. 
Countless numbers of "suggema" buzzed and roared 
about my head, biting now and then in spite of liberal 
dressings of "dope." Still the pickerel were rising to 
feathers, and as I had been denied any sort of angling 
for nearly two years, the reader will not be surprised 
at my remaining in the game e'en though, like the 
immortal Bozzaris, I bled at every pore. Again and 
again I failed to hook my fish, for it was exceedingly 
difficult to secure the requisite "purchase," so deep in 
the water was I. Nevertheless, now and then a little 
olive-green squirmer found its way into my creel and 
I was content. The fish averaged small, all under a 
foot, probably, and as a pickerel is almost one-third 
head, my store of vulgar meat did not increase rapidly, 
and I was fishing for breakfast. 

At last, with seven or eight fish in my creel, I waded 
to the shore and climbed the highest bluff where the 
breeze could catch the mosquitoes, and built a little 
fire of sagebrush. In due time the bacon was fretting 
in the pan, and then the pickerel sputtered in turn. 

55 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

Pickerel may not be "good eating," "are too full of 
bones," "are too soft," are too this, that, and the other; 
but as I look back over the years, the memory of that 
morning meal above the mosquito-infested sedge 
stands out as one of the most savory and satisfactory. 
Whatever pickerel flesh may be like when taken from 
warm water, from cold lakes and once-were-trout 
streams it is sweet and savory. (Perhaps not a little 
depends upon the outdoor appetite, too.) 

Strange what tricks memory plays with facts. As I 
sit here at my desk arranging the matter for "The Book 
of the Pike," with a "cord" of notebooks and refer- 
ence works galore on the shelves behind me, one of the 
most pleasant memories is that of the mosquito- 
infested lake. The rush of the hooked fish thrills my 
arm yet, as it did that morning so long ago after months 
of piscatorial abstemiousness. Even the memory of 
that cloud of stinging, buzzing mosquitoes is meta- 
morphosed into a sort of glorified halo. Very far away 
and very unreal seems the impatient anger of the 
morning, a thing to laugh over. I could not have made 
a better memory than He who ordained that unpleasant 
things should sink into abeyance with the passage of 
time, pleasant happenings alone remaining permanent. 
And now abide these three — the thrill of battle, the 
lift of victory, the mellow memory, and the greatest 
of these is mellow memory. 

Remains to mention that a pickerel will take a spoon, 
for any rapidly moving object has great attraction 
for him. The average trolling spoon is too large for 
this fish; the gang has too many hooks. With a treble 
in his mouth the little fellow loses whatever pluck or 
courage he may have had, a truth which obtains of 

56 



THE LITTLE PICKERELS 

more worthy fish than the despised pickerel. Too 
many hooks spoil the sport, even as too many cooks 
are said to spoil the broth. The best spoon bait is 
simply a single blade attached to a weighted streaming 
fly and cast with a regulation bass fly-rod. If you can 
handle a lure without, omit the weight. If you do 
not care to manufacture a lure for yourself, then invest 
in one of the trout spoons so much used in certain 
sections for that fish, substituting a larger and more 
showy fly for the one attached. Believe me when I 
say that there are possibilities in pickerel fly-fishing 
for the discriminating and appreciative angler, for the 
one who has learned that success is not a matter of 
pounds and weighty possibilities. 

Granted, as has been intimated all along, pickerel 
fishing, however practiced, is "boy's fishing," never- 
theless it is truly enjoyable, an agreeable rest from the 
more strenuous methods of angling. Perhaps, as a 
friend of mine asserts, pickerel fishing is to 'lunge fish- 
ing what marbles is to baseball, but even so, there is a 
legitimate place for marbles. If the reader, like the 
writer, has followed the trail of muskellunge and great 
pike week in and week out, season in and season out, 
he, like him, will be glad to turn to the little, unim- 
portant pickerel for rest and recreation. 

So we have arrived at the place where we must "put 
away childish things." Our next chapter will begin 
the discussion of great pike fishing, which may be a 
man's sport. 



57 



Chapter V 

Casting for Great Pike with Artificial 
Lures 

"Whence and what are you, monster grim and great? 
Sometimes we think you are a 'Syndicate,' 
For if our quaint cartoonists be but just, 
You have some features of the modern "Trust." 
A wide, ferocious and rapacious jaw; 
A vast, insatiate and expansive craw; 
And, like the 'Trust,' your chiefest aim and wish 
Was to combine in one all smaller fish, 
And all the lesser fry succumbed to fate 
Whom you determined to consolidate." 

—Wilcox. 

AS HAS already been emphasized, the great pike 
A-\ (Esox lucius) is the one cosmopolite of the 
family. The rodster of Europe and the fisher- 
man of Asia, no less than the angler of North America, 
may take the "mighty Luce or Pike." Wherever found, 
he is the same solitary, vindictive individual, a cruel 
tyrant, and insatiable gourmand. The horrid gleam of 
his malevolent yellow eye is a true index to his char- 
acter. One finds it easy to believe that he kills for the 
pure joy of killing, though I am not sure that he is 
guilty of the crime. I am aware that great pike are 
often taken with the tails of recently captured fish 
protruding from their mouths, but so are wall-eyes 
and bass taken on live bait when it would seem im- 
possible for them to swallow another morsel. Indeed 
even the aristocratic brook trout are found feeding 
upon worms after a heavy rain, even though stomach 

58 



CASTING FOR GREAT PIKE 

and throat are literally packed with partly digested 
and undigested "garden hackle." I doubt very much 
if, pound for pound and inch for inch, the great pike 
is more of a gourmand than some more highly appre- 
ciated game fish. To the charge that he is a born 
murderer, a sort of ichthyic degenerate, I can only 
reiterate that I am somewhat skeptical. Always re- 
member that it requires several pounds of other fish 
to make one pound of pike. Few of us would exchange 
twenty pounds of brook trout, say, for one pound of 
great pike; that would not be an even exchange, there- 
fore robbery. 

I once knew a private trout pond, devoted to the 
propagation of rainbow and eastern trout, in which 
the fish were apparently doing well. Two years after 
stocking, I myself took two-pound rainbow from its 
waters. Then it was noticed that the trout seemed 
less numerous, fewer and fewer were taken by ardent 
anglers, until at last a rise was unknown. Then the 
pond was drained and thirteen lusty great pike were 
found, but no trout. Some boys had liberated a few 
"pickerel" minnows, not over four inches long, into 
the feed stream "just to see them swim," and they 
had swum right down into the trout pond, a location 
they found very much to their liking. 

One summer I captured a number of "pickerel" 
minnows (they were true great pike, I afterwards dis- 
covered) and confined them in a tank for the purpose 
of study. Though the little fellows were fed regularly, 
were supplied with all the food they could eat, they 
just would attack one another. Once a minnow had 
secured a grip on a fellow minnow, he would hang on 
with bulldog tenacity, not letting go until he had 

59 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

killed his victim. This tenaciousness is a characteristic 
of the whole pike family. Again and again great pike 
have been brought to gaff when untouched by the 
hook, simply because they would not let go the bait. 
I have fastened a knot of red-and-white cloth to a 
trolling-line and captured pike without a hook, a not 
at all difficult feat. 

Added to the fish's insatiable appetite, wolfish 
ferocity, and bulldog tenacity, is a liking for solitude. 
The larger the fish, the more he is inclined to a hermit 
life, save at the spawning season. I am tempted to 
believe that both great pike and muskellunge have 
"homes" and well-defined hunting grounds, but more 
of the matter further along. As soon as the ice goes 
out, great pike feel the urge of procreation, and seek 
out the shallows and marshes to spawn. During the 
spring freshets when creeks and rivers are out of their 
banks, pike may be found well inland. The size of 
the fish is often a revelation. From a "fished-out" 
lake will come eight-, ten-, and fifteen-pound "lunkers," 
not singly or in pairs, but dozens and scores. Where 
they keep themselves during the open fishing season is 
a problem for anglers to solve. Around the marge of 
a certain Wisconsin lake and out on the overflowed 
marshes at the outlet I have seen some sights to 
gladden the eyes of the lover of great pike fishing. 
Yet, when spawning was over, the weather warm, and 
the season open, one would have to fish hard early 
and late in order to take a pair of medium-sized fish. 

It is while the fish are spawning that the spearers 
and illegal fishers generally get in their nefarious work. 
As a boy I have hunted pickerel on the marshes, the 
result being a wetting and a severe cold, for I was seldom 

60 



CASTING FOR GREAT PIKE 

quick enough to shoot or spear my prey, though I 
found fish in plenty. Honestly — and confession is said 
to be good for the soul — I never succeeded in spearing 
but one fish, and if the Red Gods will forgive me that 
crime, I shall go down to my grave content. 

Hunting at night with a "jack" (some sort of artifi- 
cial light raised above the bow of the boat so that 
the spearsman, standing back of it, can see down into 
the water) is uniformly successful. The fish has no 
chance. Fortunately, and rightly, the method is out- 
lawed in most of the states. Some of the catches 
made during a night's spearing is passing belief. I 
have known a single individual to return in the morn- 
ing with a washtub full of lusty great pike, perhaps 
but a fourth or sixth of the night's catch. Obviously 
not only will true sportsmen frown upon the practice, 
but will do all in their power to bring the offenders to 
justice. Spearing is cruel and wasteful at any season 
of the year, but doubly short-sighted in the spring, 
when each female represents thousands of fry. Un- 
doubtedly there is a certain attractiveness, romance, 
about night spearing — the circumscribed area of bright 
light with its wall of dense darkness beyond, the slow- 
moving panorama below with its myriad forms of 
strange life, the all-encompassing silence, deep and 
audible — all this and more appeals to that innate love 
of poesy to which every outdoor man is heir. Never- 
theless, the practice is inexcusable, because short- 
sighted, cruel — many wounded fish escaping to die a 
lingering death — and contrary to law. It must cease. 

In a foregoing paragraph I mentioned the great 
pike's solitary habits. Probably there are other reasons 
than evil temper for the fish's dwelling alone. As has 

61 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

already been pointed out, it takes more than a little 
food to supply a great pike with sufficient nutriment, 
a single mouse, frog, or minnow being but an appetizer. 
Naturally the hunting ground is divided up between 
large fish, consciously or unconsciously. Of course, I 
do not know that a great pike defends his hunting 
ground against invading fish, but I have witnessed 
terrific fights between males during the spawning 
period, and I would not be surprised to discover that 
the approach of a large fish would be the signal for 
an attack from the great pike lying in his usual lair; 
especially so since I demonstrated again and again 
that a pike strikes at a moving object when hungry, 
waiting to determine the nature of his prey after 
capturing it. 

As to whether or not a great pike wanders far from 
its lair, an observer is unable to determine, though the 
fact that a given fish may usually be expected to strike 
at a given point, actually strikes again and again and 
upon succeeding days until captured, is a strong argu- 
ment in favor of a restricted range. In my experience 
the older, and consequently the heavier a fish, the more 
disinclined it is to leave certain well-defined hunting 
grounds. Therefore the expression commonly used by 
anglers, "I'll go back there and get that old fellow 
some day," is something more than an ichthyic crow. 
I think what we may term "home instinct" is more 
largely a determining factor in a fish's life than most 
anglers imagine. 

I remember a certain deep hole in the Wolf River, 
Wisconsin, just below a long, grassy flat, from which 
during a certain camping trip I was always sure of 
securing a strike from a goodly great pike. No, I never 



CASTING FOR GREAT PIKE 

succeeded in hooking the fish, for some reason or other, 
though I caught several heart-quickening glimpses of 
him. I believe that with my increased pike knowl- 
edge, I could go back there to-day, and succeed in hook- 
ing the old fellow. In those days I was altogether too 
anxious to catch fish, swung my lure too often, and 
pulled it through the water too rapidly. 

The combination mentioned in the first sentence of 
the foregoing paragraph, "deep water, with marging 
grass," indicates good great pike fishing if found in 
pike water. Great pike desire deep water for hot days 
and perhaps for retirement after a full meal. The 
marsh grass, reeds, or weeds form a good lurking place 
and are the home of frogs, minnows, and small fish. In 
lakes you will often find water lilies growing at the edge 
of deep water, the marge of which is sure to be pre- 
empted by great pike and pickerel. From the manner 
in which the fish attack, I am inclined to believe that 
they lie with their bodies concealed in the weeds, head 
pointed outward, so when some luckless minnow or 
small fish passes they can literally leap upon it. The 
edges of any aquatic growth is good casting ground 
along rivers as well as in lakes. The caster must al- 
ways remember to cast to something, not in any direc- 
tion, for pike do not lie anywhere, though a hook 
trailing behind a boat may attract fish when least 
expected, a matter which will be discussed under the 
heading of "Trolling." 

Perhaps I shall be unable to utter a more meaningful 
bit of advice than the foregoing — "cast to- something." 
Therein lies the secret of success, implying as it does 
considerable fish knowledge. Early in the day, again 
late in the afternoon, and when feeding, great pike lie 

63 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

in their waiting places. Then cast; at other times you 
will get exercise, but no fish. It is useless to cast with 
artificial lures, unless fish are feeding on or near the 
surface. At other times wise anglers resort to other 
methods — under-waters, live bait, trolling spoons, etc., 
methods to be discussed in their proper place. Mem- 
bers of the pike family are not as apt to take up their 
abode in the branches of a down tree or beneath drift- 
wood as are bass, though I would always fish out such 
places on the chance of their concealing fish. Allow 
no chance — possible chance — to pass. It is better to 
cast many times uselessly than to miss some record- 
breaking great pike. Take for your consolation that 
even those who have made a lifelong study of the fish 
are unable to surely foreknow where a great pike may 
hide or just what he may do under any given circum- 
stance. It is the element of uncertainty that makes 
great pike angling or any other fishing, as for that, so 
attractive. 

That casting is far and away the most successful and 
sportsmanlike method of taking great pike I am firmly 
convinced. More successful, because the angler is 
actually casting where the fish lurks, waiting for food ; 
and more sportsmanlike, because the handling of arti- 
ficial lures is always a finer and nicer method of angling 
than where bait is employed. "Finer," "nicer," those 
two words do not adequately convey just what I have 
in mind, yet they must serve. There is something 
very attractive about the swinging rod, the forward 
shoot of the lure, while the reel shouts an accompani- 
ment; the dull "flop-plop" of the striking lure, followed 
by the occasional noisy commotion of an attacking 
fish. That great-pike fishing with lures is about the 

64 



CASTING FOR GREAT PIKE 

last word in casting, I am ready to affirm. The reader 
should remember that all I have said about the fish's 
habits, and will say regarding tackle, applies to the 
muskellunge equally well. 

The tackle employed in casting for great pike 
differs in no essential from that used by the bass 
caster; so if the reader desires the author's opinion 
upon the subject — a somewhat exhaustive discussion 
of the matter — he is again urged to read the chapters 
in "Casting Tackle and Methods," dealing with rod 
material, weight, length, etc., types of reels and lures, 
that he may more fully appreciate what correct tackle 
means. Yet, "by and large," as the saying has it, 
tackle for great pike fishing need not differ greatly 
from that affected by the bass caster. 

Naturally, a wise angler would not employ one of the 
ultra light rods sometimes affected by those fishermen 
who are in the habit of courting thrills. A three-and- 
one-half-ounce rod is rather light to use in angling 
where the lucky fisherman may hook a twenty- or 
twenty-five-pound great pike. (My largest great pike 
taken while casting, weighed twenty-three pounds two 
ounces, dead. Not a large fish as the species run.) 
The mere weight of such a fish might wreck a three- 
ounce bamboo. Some years ago I wrote the maker of 
a certain well-known split-bamboo caster, asking if he 
would recommend his light rod for muskellunge fishing. 
To which he promptly replied in language something 
like the following: "Most emphatically, no. The 
light-waisted rod was never made that would stand 
up under the strain; but we build a rod for Florida 
bass fishing which we unqualifiedly recommend for 
heavy pike and muskie. Properly handled, we will 
5 65 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

guarantee the rod against breaking on a fish." I se- 
cured the heavier rod, and, strange to say, it weighed 
but half an ounce more than the so-called "light bass," 
though it seemed much larger in the butt joint and was 
of the same length as the first. I tested the rod out, 
then used either as I happened to feel like doing, and 
when I took my record fish was handling the lighter 
tool. Whatever the opinion of the maker, I would go 
up against any great pike or muskellunge that ever 
flipped a fin with that light rod and without a fear for 
its integrity, either. 

At the same time I wrote the makers of the Bristol 
No. 33, asking them if they would recommend that 
rod for muskellunge and great pike of avoirdupois. 
Back came the answer by return post, "Most cer- 
tainly!" After that reply I honestly tried to break the 
rod, playing many a heavy fish from the rod instead 
of reel, as one should, actually "pumping fish" with it, 
but the "33" never complained to the extent of a set 
even. Take the "33" in "De Luxe" dress, and you 
have the ideal great pike and muskellunge rod. Oh, 
I know scores and scores of anglers will rise up to 
curse, but the truth must needs be spoken, the truth 
as I see it. Needless to add, I have no interest in the 
Bristol rod nor any other. I am a simple, honest 
fisherman. 

I have said nothing of length and construction, 
having discussed all that in the previous volume, 
"Casting Tackle and Methods," so will only say: 
Employ the regular five-foot or five-foot six-inch rod, 
split-bamboo or steel. Do not be tempted into pur- 
chasing a longer than the five-foot six-inch caster, 
either the one-piece in split-bamboo or the long tip, 

66 




SOME CASTING TACKLE 



GREAT PIKE AND LUNGE LURES 
1. South Bend "Min Buck." 5. "Chippewa." 



2. South Bend "Undeiwater." 6. 

3. Jamison's "Mascot." 7. 

4. "Rush Tango." 1, 



"Shovel-nosed Wobbler.' 

"Surf-Oreno." 

, and 5 are underwaters. 



FOUR OF THE AUTHOR'S SELF-SPOOLING REELS 

1. South Bend "Anti-Backlash," with level-winder. 

2. "Pfluger Supreme," free-spool, self-thumber, self-spooler. 

3. Shakespeare, "Marhoff," simple level-winder. 

4. "Beetszel," free-spool, self-thumber, level-winder. 



CASTING FOR GREAT PIKE 

short butt construction. Of course in steel the number 
of joints is not of supreme importance. But — and 
listen to me — for great pike fishing get a good rod. 

In the matter of reels there is a constantly broaden- 
ing field for selection, and the angler should remember 
that there is no single "best" reel for any given fishing, 
writers to the contrary notwithstanding. Every angler 
sufficiently experienced to be allowed space in a mag- 
azine for an expression of preference naturally will 
have a favorite reel, and for him it is the best. How 
many quarrels would be obviated if angling writers 
would learn to say "My favorite reel is" instead of 
"The proper reel is" or "The best reel is." How many 
times I have had my anger stirred, unreasonably, I 
admit, but stirred nevertheless, by some angler whose 
cocksureness as to what constitutes the best reel or 
rod is equaled only by the theoretical theologian. 
Remember, please, that while your favorite reel may 
be best for you, there is a chance that mine is best 
for me. 

My favorite reel for great pike casting is a level- 
winder, and with as large a spool as it is possible to 
place behind the level-winding device. Such a winch 
will cost money, but it will last a lifetime if handled 
properly, carefully cleaned, and sent back to the 
factory once in a while for readjustment. The ad- 
vantages of the level-winder, or, as it is sometimes 
called, self-spooler, are too obvious to require enlarge- 
ment here. One can bend all his energies to playing 
the fish; need not keep his eye on the reel-spool all 
the time, a little matter which bulks large in the day- 
long enjoyment. Be sure and select a reel large enough 
to handle with ease at least fifty yeards of line, size E, 

67 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

say, which should test in the neighborhood of twenty- 
three pounds. Muskellunge and great pike lines are 
built to test up to forty pounds, but I doubt if it is 
ever necessary to employ such a "rope" in casting 
artificial lures; indeed, to my mind, the weight would 
militate against distance and control, as it would inter- 
fere in playing the fish. My largest great pike was 
taken on a size G line, testing only eighteen pounds, 
which, in the great majority of cases, would be suffi- 
ciently strong. The modern great pike fisherman does 
not expect to drag a fish around in the water as the 
small boy drags his toy boat. 

As to lures, I would simply say, select standard 
bass attractors, though the hooks should be some- 
what larger, stronger, and well attached. The smash- 
ing power of a great pike's jaws is considerable. Al- 
ways there should be a tail-hook, something not needed 
for bass. There is no necessity, as I see it, for the large, 
many-hooked lures sometimes illustrated in catalogues 
and displayed in tackle-store windows. Undoubtedly 
a full-grown great pike can swallow the largest artifi- 
cial lure upon the market, but you cannot handle it 
with the regulation casting rod, neither is there any 
necessity that you should. I once saw a man fishing 
for muskellunge upon a Northern Minnesota lake, and 
his "caster" was a regulation six-foot tarpon rod, to 
which he had attached a salt-water reel containing 
300 feet of line! Wait, there is more. He was using 
live bait — ten-inch suckers! He caught some good 
fish, too. Just the same, the real heart-joy of angling 
was not for him. Parenthetically: Just the other day 
I picked up an outdoor magazine in which a writer 
recommended suckers a foot long as muskellunge bait. 

68 



CASTING FOR GREAT PIKE 

Such a fish may make a good "bait," I am not saying 
it will not, but I do say that there is more sport, fun, 
if you please, in taking heavy fish on light tackle, 
tackle that cannot be employed in casting "young 
suckers." 

Another matter, a little thing but vastly important, 
always provide the lure with a steel trace or wire 
gimp; for when any pike "strikes over" its sharp teeth 
are sure to sever the line. I know of nothing in the 
whole realm of angling quite so heart-rending as to 
have a large fish depart, taking with him some choice 
lure. I have enjoyed (?) the experience a number of 
times and therefore I know whereof I speak. A wire 
gimp costs but a few cents, and is comparable to a life 
insurance policy in the midst of a smallpox epidemic. 
Do not neglect it. My largest great pike came in fast 
to a Heddon "dummy double," the lure out of sight in 
the fish's mouth, while its teeth clinched the wire gimp 
ferociously but unavailingly. 

So much for tackle proper, though there are a few 
other articles which should be included in every great 
pike fisher's outfit. The ordinary landing-net is not 
adapted to pike fishing unless unusually large and 
strong and preceded by the quieting "gun" or club. 
A good, strong-throated gaff is much better. I have 
tried the so-called "automatic gaffs," two much-ad- 
vertised makes, but both failed to penetrate the fish's 
hide. The shape of a great pike's body is such that it 
slips out of the nippers. Try it and see. Anyway, the 
things are the refinement of cruelty. A good thick 
club to whack the fish on the head, or, better, a 32- 
caliber revolver with which to give the capture his 
quietus while yet in the water, will save many a fish 

69 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

and obviate much strong language. Every outfit 
should contain a file or hook-hone, for the hard bones 
of a great pike's mouth will quickly dull even the best 
of hand-forged hooks. A disgorger is of little use with 
a multi-hooked lure, but here is a simple contrivance 
which every pike fisherman should carry: A steel spring 
which can be inserted in the fish's mouth, holding the 
jaws open while the hook is being removed. One cannot 
be too careful of wounds from a pike's teeth, for they 
are painful, hard to heal, and generally troublesome. 
A little tube of iodine in the tackle-box with which to 
paint a scratch at once is well worth while. So much 
for outfit and additions thereto. 

I can say but little as to the method of casting, for 
the wise great pike enthusiast employs the same 
tactics that the bass fan finds successful. As has 
already been pointed out, great pike are not as much 
given to tree tops and rocky beds as are bass, though 
the shadow of a log is not to be neglected as you work 
your way along a lake shore. It is to weed beds and 
grassy shores you will pay the most attention, for 
those spots are beloved of the great pike. The cast 
should be made directly to the edge of the bed. If 
there are open spots back in the field and the weeds are 
of such character that you can coax a fish through 
them, then cast into the open places; but I warn you 
that such ventures are to be made only in fear and 
trembling, a sort of last resort, for disaster lurks close 
upon the heels of such casts. Sometimes a great pike 
will strike upon the instant, though ordinarily he will 
wait for the lure to move away, sometimes following it 
questioningly, suspiciously, a characteristic of the 
whole family, from little pickerel to lordly muskellunge. 

70 



CASTING FOR GREAT PIKE 

In retrieving the lure, do so by "fits and starts," a 
method which seems to tickle the imagination of the 
fish or stirs his anger. Often when so deviled, he will at- 
tack the lure or over-run it, in any event hook himself. 

I have already warned the reader that a heavy fish 
is to be played from the reel rather than with the rod, 
though the rod ably seconds the efforts of the reel. 
The backbone of a five-ounce split-bamboo is not stiff 
enough to do battle with a twenty-pound great pike. 
It should keep a sufficient tension upon the line to 
prevent the fish from throwing out the hook, a not very 
difficult feat, once the fish secures a little slack. Do 
not be afraid to give the capture line; let him run; 
that is what you have a reel for. The more he moves, 
the quicker he will become exhausted. Play him. If 
he is lazy and refuses to move, make him. More than 
once I have tired a big great pike by paddling about 
while the hooked fish was simply towed behind. Al- 
ways be sure your fish is thoroughly exhausted before 
you attempt to use the gaff, and remember, the shoot- 
ing should come before the gaff. It is surprising how 
much vitality a great pike has stored up in his body. 
He is never captured until in the boat or upon the 
shore. 

While lure-casting is best from a boat, I have had 
unalloyed pleasure in casting from the shore. Shore 
casting is to be resorted to only as a last choice; that 
is, unless you are one of the seldom anglers who can 
brook disappointment and broken tackle. There are 
so many odds in the fish's favor — logs, trees, rooty 
stumps, rocks, and, last but not least, treacherous 
currents. To tire a big fish, reel him to your feet, then 
have the current pick him up and sweep him away, is 

7i 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

an experience which may be good for one's soul, but 
it is heart-breaking at the time. 

One of the best fights I ever saw a great pike put 
up, one I hooked near the mouth of the Chippewa, 
River, a Wisconsin stream, conducted. "Conducted" is 
right, for, for full fifteen minutes the fish engineered 
the doings. I was casting for bass at the foot of a 
rocky ledge; that is, I had been casting all along the 
rocks without results, then walked down to an eddy 
below them, a bit of water more ideal for pike 
than bass. I cast clear across the eddy to a fringe of 
pickerel weed upon the far side. I thought I had 
struck a snag, for my hook stuck. To my surprise, I 
found that I was fast in a good fish. He sulked, some 
hundred feet away. I pulled steadily (my tackle was 
of the best) until I had coaxed him out into the current, 
then he suddenly awakened, and for twenty minutes 
kept me very busy indeed. Three times I had him 
at my feet. Three times he managed to secure the 
advantage of the strong current and was swept away. 
I all but despaired of gaffing him. Once he leaped in 
a hog-wallowing way, shaking himself, having secured 
sufficient slack line for the maneuver. For a few sec- 
onds I was mightily worried, for there are no more 
dangerous tactics resorted to by any of the pikes. 
Hooks held, line remained true. In the end I landed 
the fish without assistance, though it was no credit to 
me, for I had shouted lustily for aid, but there was none 
to hear. That one battle looms largest on my mental 
horizon of all my contests with great pike. Not because 
it was an unusually big fish, and it was a good one, re- 
ported in the newspapers ; but because of the surround- 
ings and the length of the struggle, a full half-hour. 

72 



Chapter VI 

Great Pike and Live Bait 

"The mediocrity of pike as a game fish is doubtless a just 
estimation in a majority of cases, but once in a while one will 
exhibit game qualities that will surprise the most doubting and 
contemptuous angler, compelling his admiration and forcing him 
to admit that there are exceptions to all rules, more especially 
in fishing." — Dr. James A. Henshall. 

THE great pike is a lover of live bait, I sometimes 
imagine, putting up a better fight when caught 
on a minnow or frog than when taken with arti- 
ficial lures, though perhaps the belief is another of my 
angling whims. This fact enters in, however, that on 
live bait there is ordinarily but a single hook, while the 
usual artificial lure is possessed of several trebles. 
Three sets of trebles fast in a great pike's jaw are quite 
apt to take the fight out of an otherwise combative 
individual. A word to the wise is sufficient. 

There is no question but that the use of artificial 
lure is the cleaner and — shall I say it? — more sports- 
manlike method. There are days and waters, however, 
when and where live bait will prove more availing. 
He who refuses to use live bait at all shall be, to mis- 
quote Father Izaak, "a bit superstitious." By the 
way, I am always suspicious of the angler who "never" 
uses anything but artificial flies or casting lures of 
some sort, feeling that perhaps it would be a good 
idea to go through the pockets of his fishing-coat care- 
fully. Be that as it may, the man who employs live 

73 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

bait upon occasion, and knows how to handle it, is 
sure of a few good fish, when the faddist must needs 
return empty handed. 

All members of the pike family are preeminently 
bait fish, from the little pickerel up to the fighting 
muskellunge. One has but to observe the habits of the 
fish to satisfy himself of the truthfulness of the asser- 
tion. For four years I lived near a chain of lakes — 
might almost say lived on them — that contained great 
pike of fighting propensities and avoirdupois, and, 
being something of a fish student as well as angler, 
naturally availed myself of the opportunity for ob- 
servation. I discovered that the fish had well-defined 
lairs and ranges. To toss a small chub or sucker any- 
where near a given point was to invite an attack nine 
times out of ten. Naturally it follows that when the 
sucker or chub was attached to a hook and the bait 
cast in a skillful manner, the great pike was hooked, 
though not always brought to gaff. The hooking of a 
big great pike is the least part of the game. 

I had a fighting acquaintance with one monster (I 
think he would have weighed in the neighborhood of 
twenty-five pounds), which I had named "Big Arthur," 
in honor of an eccentric lad who haunted the lake and 
often fished with me. "Big Arthur" had his home in 
a bed of water lilies near the upper end of the lake, 
where the water shoaled sharply from thirty feet to 
four or five. Naturally that weed-bed was the home 
of sunfish, bluegills, and perch, a matter which "Big 
Arthur" knew right well. Sometimes the latter lay in 
the weeds just at the edge of the bed, and when some 
hapless, reckless "punkin* seed" ventured into the open, 
he more often paid toll with his life than returned to 

74 



GREAT PIKE AND LIVE BAIT 

his home to tell of his adventures. It was while fishing 
for well-beloved "sunnies" in a pocket amid the weeds — 
for I love to fish for the little fellows with a two-and-one- 
half-ounce fly rod, and have an appetite for sunnies 
rolled in cracker crumbs and fried in sweet butter — that 
I was "introduced" to "Big Arthur." When I saw 
him dash out from his lair not ten feet distant from my 
location and capture an unfortunate perch, I mentally 
resolved to try conclusions with him. 

Hastily I fastened a four-inch perch to a strong hook 
which I had in my tackle-box, and sent the little fellow 
hurtling through the air to land "plop!" right where 
the attack had been made. Nothing resulted, and I 
thought that I caught a glimpse of a shadowy form 
slipping through the water. When too late, I told my- 
self what a fool I had been. "Big Arthur" was not in 
the habit of having his fish come flying through the 
air to land right in front of him with noise and com- 
motion. Long life had made him sly and wise beyond 
his kind. 

Next morning I was in my position betimes and 
ready for the battle, but my friend the enemy was not 
at home; "off his feed," suspicious, or something; at 
any rate, I failed to make connections or even catch 
a glimpse of his greenish-gray body. Then I rested 
the pool for a week, and one night as the heavy shades 
crept in from the east I quietly drew a sunfish through 
the water over his lurking-place. That time I con- 
nected up all right — and still have a broken three and 
one-half-ounce caster as a memento of the battle. So 
it went all that season and the next. Now and then 
I would see the fish, once in a blue moon induce him 
to strike, semi-occasionally — fifteen times during the 

75 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

two years — hook him. Always something happened — 
not always because of a lack of skill on my part — and 
the fish escaped. Then Fate decreed that I should 
move from that locality, and my one great regret in 
leaving was that "Big Arthur" still lorded it over the 
lesser fry at the head of Clark's Lake. Some day I 
am going back there and try conclusions with him 
once more, for of course he still is waiting for me, 
though a dozen and more years have sped since our 
first friendly battle. 

When casting live bait — with perhaps the exception 
of frogs — for large and "educated" great pike, I much 
doubt the wisdom of noisy casting, such as is so at- 
tractive with bass. Better far, if possible, allow the 
bait to slip into the water without any commotion 
whatsoever. Again and again I have fastened a min- 
now in the weeds in such a manner that I could release 
it with a gentle jerk, row my boat to a position 150 to 
200 feet away, and wait half an hour for the water to 
quiet down, then pull my bait over the known lurking 
place of some ultra-wise great pike. Taking the 
matter by and large, the user of live bait should at- 
tempt to duplicate natural conditions. To my mind 
there is more sport in circumventing some aged and 
wise great pike, a fish that has defied anglers for 
seasons without number, than in capturing many less 
educated individuals. And the way to capture such 
fish is with live bait used intelligently. 

In the matter of what bait to use, the angler will 
study the feeding habits of the great pike in the par- 
ticular water to be fished. It is a mistaken notion that 
a man, simply because he is a good caster, can go to 
an unfamiliar water and catch as many fish as the 

76 



GREAT PIKE AND LIVE BAIT 

man acquainted with every deep and shallow, as well 
as knowing when and upon what the great pike feed. 
The reason why the country boy with a tamarack pole 
and cotton line catches more fish than the rodster 
with his expensive outfit is not a matter of parapher- 
nalia, but of water and fish knowledge. Give the 
scientific angler the same intimate acquaintanceship 
with lake and stream, and he will discount the native 
50 per cent. Time and again, when I have become 
thoroughly familiar with a trout stream, I have caught 
two fish to every one taken by my Indian guide. 
With but three days to spend upon a great pike water, 
I am thoroughly convinced that if the angler were to 
spend two of them, from earliest dawn to dark, study- 
ing water and feeding times as well as food, he would 
catch more than enough fish on the third day to make 
up for the two spent in study. There is no defeating 
the angler who knows. However, I am free to confess 
that I have never been able to curb my impatience for 
two days. 

For all waters probably there is no more attractive 
minnow than the shiner, say from four inches up to 
six. I have in mind the flat silver white minnow, such 
as can usually be caught along the edges of weed-beds 
in lakes and wide streams. A glass fish-trap baited 
with breadcrumbs, a seine or dip-net will take them, 
though I prefer to catch them with a minnow hook 
and line, for those so caught are usually of the correct 
size; and, wherever possible, I like to take them from 
the very water in which I am to fish for great pike, for 
those are the most alluring. Quickly released from the 
hook, with moist hands to prevent breaking the pro- 
tecting slime, and placed in a double minnow bucket, 

77 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

they will remain alive for several hours, provided the 
bucket is not too crowded. A dozen minnows should 
be amply sufficient for a half-day's fishing. As a close 
second I would place the ordinary chub and sucker, 
giving perch, sunfish, and small bluegills third place. 
By the way, few anglers realize what a splendid bait 
sunfish or bream make. Again and again I have been 
surprised to find members of the pike family taking 
the little "gold dollars" with avidity, especially in 
waters inhabited by them. Perhaps I should say here 
that as a rule successful bait for any given water is 
determined largely by the natural food found therein. 
It is next to useless to fish with a "foreign" bait. 

A very good bait in some waters, especially for troll- 
ing, which will be discussed further along, is the com- 
mon green or meadow frog. I have found the brown 
frog utterly unattractive times without number, and 
must warn anglers against it. The meadow frog, so- 
called, though perhaps some of my readers are ac- 
quainted with it under the name of leopard frog, is a 
splendid casting bait for any member of the pike 
family, save for large muskellunge. Of course, as was 
suggested in the foregoing paragraph, in water where 
frogs are not found, where there are no environing 
marshes and "froggy land," the gymnastic batrachian 
is apt to prove a disappointment. For obvious reasons 
great pike are not in the habit of feeding upon them. 
That bait alone upon which the fish is accustomed 
to feed is sure to prove attractive. Of course one may 
take a great pike with a frog from waters uninhabited 
by batrachians, but by and large, it is not the part of 
wisdom to employ frogs where sunfish and shiners are 
the every-day diet. That the great pike will upon 

78 



GREAT PIKE AND LIVE BAIT 

occasion take anything edible or near edible is a well- 
known characteristic of the family. I have more than 
once taken good great pike up to four pounds upon 
angle worms. 

While upon the question of baits, I would like to 
mention one seldom resorted to because of the trouble 
of securing it, as well as the difficulty the caster ex- 
periences in fastening it to his hook. I refer to mice. 
I am free to confess that I do not know how to attach 
a mouse to a hook, and am only glad to get it half 
fastened if I can escape with whole fingers. A mouse 
possesses teeth. Perhaps some ambitious angler will 
yet invent a "mouse harness," and so win thanks, 
fame, and fortune. Till that time arrives I must pass 
this best of baits with but a word. The mouse should 
be so fastened to the hook that it is free to swim upon 
the surface, and there is little for the rodster to do 
save cast it where it should go. 

I once used a mouse very successfully. I was spend- 
ing a little time at a great pike water, a grassy, weedy 
lake fairly alive with the wicked gentry, but notwith- 
standing their numerousness I failed to secure a good 
fish. So one day I captured a mouse under a "figure- 
four trap," chloroformed it, and while it was quiescent 
wired the body to a double hook, to which I attached a 
trailer. By the time I reached my chosen fishing ground, 
my bait was very lively ; indeed, I was worried for fear 
that it might escape from my hook altogether and run 
amuck in the boat. My first cast with the somewhat 
unusual bait was a good one, well in amid the fringing 
cat-tails, and Mr. Mouse set out for shore. Hardly 
had half a minute passed before a splendid great pike 
had him, and I was hard and fast in the heaviest fish 

79 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

of the trip. And yet the bait does not appeal to me; 
seems "unsportsmanlike;" though why a live frog 
should be sportsmanlike and a live mouse unsports- 
manlike it is hard to see. Probably we shall never be 
able to settle that much-argued question to the satis- 
faction of all. 

Perhaps, so long as I have been discussing live bait, 
it would be well to begin my remarks upon tackle with 
the hook, for that surely is closely connected with 
bait. In great pike fishing the hook should be large 
and strong. There is little danger of selecting one too 
large; the fish can manage anything, and the jaws are 
almost viselike in crushing power. There are some 
very good minnow and frog harnesses upon the market, 
but where they come with hooks already attached, the 
latter are seldom strong enough to hold a big great 
pike. A small hook is easily swallowed, a matter to 
be avoided wherever possible. For average great pike 
fishing, I would say get a No. i-o hook — it will prove 
none too large — to which must be attached a strong 
wire gimp or leader; for when the fish "strikes over," 
unless the line be protected by such gimp the fish and 
hook will be lost. Some day someone will produce a 
frog harness and minnow hook built especially for 
great pike fishing. Till then we who fish for large 
Esox must content ourselves with large-sized regular 
hooks. 

I much prefer hooking the bait through the head, 
from below upwards. Yes, I know the minnow soon 
dies, which happens after a few casts, anyway, no 
matter how hooked. Sometimes anglers insert the 
hook in the minnow's mouth, out through the gills, 
and back through the body. Very good, were it not 

80 



GREAT PIKE AND LIVE BAIT 

for the fact that the minnow soon doubles down on 
the hook-shank and whirls like a spoon when drawn 
through the water instead of traveling naturally. 
There is just one way of attaching a minnow or frog 
to a single hook, and that is through the head; but as 
all members of the pike family are in the habit of 
striking from the rear (unlike bass), unless they reach 
far enough over the bait to be impaled upon the hook, 
the bait is severed and the fish escapes. Every great 
pike fisherman knows the vexation of short-striking. 
It is an easy matter to use two hooks, either a gang 
built especially for the work or a second hook attached 
by its ring to the first. More than once I have made 
a "great-pike gang," wiring the body of the minnow 
or frog to the shank of the second hook, to the conquer- 
ing of "lazy" great pike. 

Every rodster is acquainted with the casting spoon 
to which an auxiliary hook is attached, and every 
caster of live bait for great pike should be. (We will 
not enter into a discussion regarding the ethics of the 
matter here, why it is "unsportsmanlike" to use a 
spoon in combination with a live bait.) When live 
bait has ceased to be alive, or when using preserved 
bait, the spoon is- a great aid, as it serves to attract 
the fish's attention to the morsel of food and perhaps 
serves to make it appear in a lifelike manner. I know 
from many an experience that it is a fish-taker. Such 
a spoon (the blade should not be large like those 
usually found upon trolls) will not interfere with cast- 
ing to any great extent, as it does not offer much re- 
sistence to the atmosphere and is little affected by 
the wind. 

All that was said in the previous chapter concerning 
6 81 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

the importance of leader or gimp, and emphasized in 
this, should be held in mind at all times, no matter 
what the bait or lure under consideration. To lose 
one record fish by having the line cut by a great pike's 
teeth is enough to last a fisherman for several seasons. 

Above the hook, I have not much to add to what 
was said concerning tackle in the foregoing chapter 
upon artificial lure casting. I would employ prac- 
tically the same reel, some type of level-winder like the 
"Shakespeare," "Beetzel," "Supreme," "Heddon's," or 
"Southbend." The line would be one I knew tobestrong 
enough for the work, though as light as is consistent 
with safety. I might use a heavier rod, depending 
upon the weight of the bait to be handled. I would 
not jeopardize a light caster by attempting to cast a 
minnow weighing four or five ounces, as I have seen 
men do. If I thought it necessary to use a young fish 
for bait, I would select a somewhat heavy rod to handle 
it. Personally, I much doubt the advisability of em- 
ploying an overly large minnow for casting, upon the 
theory that a large bait insures a large fish. More 
often I think the practice results in a lost fish. The 
ordinary casting rod will handle a two- or three-ounce 
minnow without difficulty. A heavier bait should be 
thrown from the tip of a rod somewhat thicker in the 
waist — more stalky and somewhat stiffer, consequently 
slightly heavier in weight. However, every ounce the 
caster adds to his rod is subtracting a definite thrill 
from the battle. The great pike fisherman who will 
not take a chance, court a thrill, is missing one of the 
joys of the sport. 

The actual casting of live bait does not differ much 
from casting artificial lures, save, as a rule, the object 

82 




A PAIR OF GREAT PIKE 

Courtesy L. E. Cavalier, Cable, Wis. 



GREAT PIKE AND LIVE BAIT 

of the caster is not to make a great commotion upon 
the surface of the water when the bait strikes. We 
are now fishing with a fish for a fish, and our object is 
to duplicate nature. Every angler has seen a minnow 
dart along the surface, closely pursued by a hungry 
great pike. That should be a sufficient hint. There 
are times when to "skitter" a minnow along the sur- 
face, allowing it to sink slowly at the end of the move- 
ment, will bring results. As a rule, however, I cast 
toward the shore if fishing from a boat, allowing the 
minnow or frog to sink for a few seconds, then slowly 
— note I say slowly — reel in. My object in casting is 
to get the bait to slip into the water without excite- 
ment or commotion. With me, noise and splashing 
are taboo. 

To cast a live bait with skill and accuracy is some- 
thing of a task. I honestly believe there are fewer 
good casters of live bait to-day than there are handlers 
of artificial lures. I mean in proportion to the number 
fishing, of course. There was a time when we were 
students of live-bait fishing, but that day is long since 
past, though I expect to see a revival of the sport. 
Perhaps I shall lay myself open to criticism when I 
say that it requires more skill to cast live bait properly 
than it does to handle a plug, but nevertheless such is 
my conviction. Watch the average bait-caster handling 
minnows, and draw your own conclusions. 

The regular lurking place for great pike, such as are 
investigated by the lure handler, should be carefully 
fished out by the bait fisherman, who should remember 
that he is fishing with the natural food of the great 
pike, and endeavor to simulate the actions of that food 
when unattached to hook and line. Logs, stumps, 

83 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

weed-beds, deep "holes," all should be thoroughly in- 
vestigated and conscientiously fished out, slowly and 
methodically. Never should the rodster be tempted 
to hurry, for haste is always destructive of highest 
art, and, believe me, properly casting live bait is an 
art. Care must be exercised both at the beginning 
and end of a cast, or the bait will be torn from the 
hook. As the "back cast" is the danger point in fly 
casting, so ofttimes it is in handling live bait. The 
cast should not be begun too quickly and sharply. 
Ginger should be injected after the bait is in motion. 

I have been writing of live-bait fishing for great pike 
as though it were a sport to be indulged in only from 
the vantage ground of a boat, though the truth of the 
matter is, a wise and careful angler can cast success- 
fully from the shore. My largest great pike was taken 
from the shore, and on a green frog at that. Local 
conditions must govern when, where, and how. I, nor 
no man, can tell how, nor when, nor where on paper. 
As the wise bass fan does not cast "any old place" for 
his chosen game, so the great pike fisher must not 
expect to win out "going it blind." Let him study the 
water and the feeding habits of the great pike therein. 
While, by and large, great pike agree in their general 
habits, voraciousness, love of solitude, and deep, quiet 
swims, still there are little differences in the habits of 
fish dwelling even in contiguous water, the knowledge 
of which marks the successful angler. 

It is wonderful what a cool and expert rodster can 
make his captures do, what obstacles he can over- 
come. Not so long ago I was casting on a mill pond 
where numberless logs were floating, confined by a 

84 



GREAT PIKE AND LIVE BAIT 

continuous "boom." The deep water lay within the 
boom and I was upon the shore. So I cast some fifty 
feet beyond the boom and, as luck would have it, 
hooked a big — for the water — great pike. Fortunately, 
the bank upon which I was standing was somewhat 
elevated above the surface of the water. Reeling in as 
rapidly as I could get the fish to travel, I waited until 
he was at the edge of the boom, then, holding the tip 
of my rod high in air, I gave a sudden strong jerk of 
the line, with the result that the great pike leaped out 
of the water and fell upon my side — the shore side — of 
the boom. "Luck?" Well, perhaps, but it worked 
out as I planned it. The fact of the matter is, the re- 
sourceful angler can overcome almost any difficulty, 
circumvent the most crafty great pike, if he only 
thinks he can and keeps his head. 

Naturally, not all rivers, and few lakes, can be 
fished from the shore. Ofttimes, usually, the water 
near the shore is shallow, or obstructions upon the 
bank make casting impossible. Yet it is surprising 
how much fishing the shore angler can get if he but 
keeps at it. I have even waded out into a lake waist- 
deep and cast successfully, something of a trick, as 
the reader will find if he undertakes, it. Once I hooked 
a goodly great pike, so standing, and the fish dashed 
between my legs, to the travail of my soul and the 
fish's liberty, not to mention the result of the taut 
line against my bare legs. 

Still-fishing for great pike with live bait has not 
been productive of results with me. I can count the 
fish so caught upon the fingers of one hand, perhaps 
because the waters fished were not adapted to the 

8* 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

sport, though I am under the impression that still- 
fishing is uniformly unsuccessful.* The great pike is 
as much the caster's fish as is the famous black bass, 
and the casting of live bait is, to my mind, the method 
that will take the sly old denizen of avoirdupois and 
experience, suspicious of unnatural lures and spoons. 
If the reader knows of some "Old Arthur" that has 
successfully defied the caster of lures, my best advice 
to him is, try live bait — minnow, frog, or mouse. 

Always the rodster should exhaust his fish before 
attempting to net or gaff. The heavy fish should be 
stunned before either is used. A revolver or pistol is a 
handy thing to have, lacking which, a good, thick 
club may be made to serve, though it should be handled 
with care. A blow across the line or leader is disastrous. 
I watched a man playing a good great pike in Lake 
Superior, a large one (there are some big ones taken 
from its cold waters) and liberate his capture by a 
misdirected blow. "How did it ever happen?" Easy 
enough. The fish was not thoroughly exhausted, and 
when the fisherman struck, the fish flopped, and that 
was the end of the story. Be sure the great pike is 
played until played out. A gaff is a better landing 
tool than a net, obviously, and it should be well made, 
strong of hook, throat, and haft. 

Let no one laugh at the user of live bait for great 
pike. He is the man that will get the large fish, all 
else being equal, as will be emphasized times without 
number probably throughout this work, whether he 
angles for pickerel, great pike, or muskellunge. Three 
times in my experience I have won out where others 

*See Appendix II, "Still Fishing with Live Bait." 
86 



GREAT PIKE AND LIVE BAIT 

failed, twice by employing minnows and once by the 
use of frogs, not to include the few occasions when I 
have resorted to the unusual mouse bait. After all, 
there is more in live-bait fishing than the disciple of 
plugs or the user of spoons realizes. 

Note. — For some years I have been busy experimenting with 
live bait and live-bait tackle, gathering data everywhere, the 
results being set down in my forthcoming "Fishing with Live 
Bait," a book considerably larger than this. The whole question 
of live-bait fishing is thoroughly discussed, from finding and 
keeping the bait to how to handle it upon lake and stream. 
The reader of this chapter, interested in the subject, is invited 
to secure the work. 



87 



Chapter VII 

Fly- Fishing for Great Pike 

". . . Pike-fishing, in fact, has been with me the hobby — 
the hobby, I might almost say — of a life." — H. Cholmondeley- 
Pennell. 

IN Chapter IV I discussed fly-fishing for pickerel, 
speaking of tackle as well as methods, though 
naturally I did not go into the matter exhaustively, 
that fish being so "unimportant." However, I wish 
to reassert what was emphasized there: Fly-fishing 
for pickerel, provided proper tools are used, is an 
enjoyable game and worth-while sport, whatever one 
may think of the fish when killed and in the pan. 

When we turn to the great pike, fly-rod in hand, all 
is changed; the possibilities for sport raised to the 
nth power. Imagine a nineteen-pound, cold-water- 
bred, fighting pike on a twelve-ounce rod, say. I can 
assure the reader — a recent experience in mind — that 
such a proposition spells trouble with a capital "T." 
Perhaps it might be as well for me to spin the yarn 
right here in the opening of the chapter, as it teaches 
some things that the fisherman must learn if he is to 
cope successfully with that combative werewolf of 
northern waters. 

I am fortunate enough to possess a little cottage on 
Chequamegon Bay, so near the main lake as to be 
almost in Superior itself. Some miles up the bay is 
the mouth of a slough, which extends well back in- 

88 



FLY-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 

land, the abandoned mouth of a river. Now, that 
slough is deep and marged with pickerel weed, water 
arum, and other aquatic plants. Naturally, it is the 
home of numberless great pike and pickerel, for while 
perhaps it is not generally known, Lake Superior's 
sloughs or bayous, as they are sometimes called, 
afford excellent great pike fishing. Some of the finest 
catches of great pike seen by me in recent years have 
come from Kagagan, not far from Ashland, Wisconsin. 
What is true of the sloughs visited by me is true, I 
think, of the great majority of those along the South 
Shore of that Great Lake at least. I am constantly 
surprised that this section is not more often visited 
by the lovers of the giant Esox. The fish run large. 
Where the waters have not been fished hard, I have 
seen them weighing in the neighborhood of forty 
pounds, and I have reason to believe that larger fish 
may yet be taken. 

One cool September morning just as the tardy sun 
was rising from his watery bed I set out for the slough, 
crouched in my light canoe, for I am one of those 
fellows who like to add a spice of danger to great- 
pike fishing by employing a canoe, though I do not 
want to be understood as recommending the craft for 
.the sport. I had left my casting rod in the cottage — 
for the temptation is always to use that efficient tool 
for great pike — taking instead a nine-ounce fly-rod, 
nine and one-half feet long, rather thick in the waist, 
but possessed of sufficient backbone to shoot a heavy 
fly remarkably well. The reel was an aluminum 
quadruple, built for fly-fishing, without the balance 
handle. (I understand that only a few of those reels 
were made, but I cannot understand why they might 

89 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

not become popular for heavy fishing if constructed 
from some other material. Aluminum is too soft a 
metal for reels.) The fly for the morning was a rather 
large buck-tail with a red "tag," a conspicuous fly on 
dark water and one that has proven uniformly at- 
tractive to great pike. 

Reaching the field of operation, I sent the light craft 
along just within casting distance of the fringing weeds 
and grass, for it is never the part of wisdom when 
doing any fishing to "stretch the cast," to cast beyond 
control. Not a breeze ruffled the surface, something 
which obtains usually only early in the morning along 
Superior's fretful shore. I cast easily, the hair and 
feather fly landing with a little splash just at the edge 
of a bed of pickerel weed, a plant which my readers 
will remember Father Walton thought mothered the 
mighty "Luce." Probably because my mind was busy 
with the ancient history of the fish I was seeking, I 
missed my first rise. There was a splash, a flash of 
green and white, and a fish shot from the weeds into 
the depths. I did not cast a second time, for the fish 
had gone out and down, and some little time, I knew, 
would elapse before my game would return to his 
lair. I beg the reader to remember that the great 
pike is not only a lover of solitude, but he is also more 
shy than he is given credit with being by most fisher- 
men. While the fish will often follow a lure right up 
to a boat's side, the angler will discover that he will 
take more fish in the course of a day's casting if he 
deport himself as though his quarry were as shy as 
the speckled denizen of our cold-water brooklets. 

A resounding splash "like a log falling into the water" 
notified me that somewhere above a mighty leviathan 

90 



FLY-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 

was feeding. Without casting, and disturbing the 
water as little as possible with my paddle, I edged my 
light craft along. (Therein lies the great advantage 
of the canoe for any fishing — quietness and ease in 
handling.) Slowly I made my way upward, ever on 
the lookout for the leviathan's lurking place. A bed 
of spatter-dock, with a forest of cat-tails close inshore, 
held my attention, my fish sense telling me that it 
must be the home of the monster whose plunge I had 
heard. 

Replacing my combination buck-tail with an ex- 
aggerated scarlet ibis of my own manufacture, I sent 
the bunch of brilliant feathers through the air, to land 
with an audible "plop" just at the edge of the floating 
broad leaves. Nothing stirred, so I waited for the fly 
to sink. As the feathers were dry, perhaps three 
minutes passed before the little spot of color disap- 
peared beneath the surface. Then, with the "jerk-and- 
wait" movement, I began to reel in the line. Before 
the lure had traveled far, came a rush, a mighty 
wallowing splash, and my rod was bending perilously, 
while the thrumming line whispered of danger. Then 
was disclosed the advantage of a multiplying reel for 
great pike fly-fishing. I was compelled to fight the 
fish in a circumscribed area. Remember, I was in a 
narrow slough, comparable to a river, with weed- and 
reed-marged shores upon either side. The first act of 
the fish was to rush to, and under, the canoe. It was 
but the act of a second on my part to throw a loop of 
line around the bow and gently snub my capture before 
he reached the protection of the weeds upon the far 
side. How he fought to enter them! Wallowing 
upon the surface, throwing up a smother of spray. 

9i 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

I trembled for the integrity of my tackle, wishing, it 
must be confessed, for a heavier rod. But Fate was 
kind that morning, for the fish became possessed of 
another idea, and shot straight down the slough, lake- 
ward. I was content to let him go, knowing that my 
reel held full 200 feet of new line. (It never is the part 
of wisdom to fish for great pike with an old, worn-out 
line.) 

I wondered, as I watched the line disappear from the 
spool, if the fish had started for the Soo at the foot of 
the Great Lakes. Reaching the sandbar at the mouth 
of the slough and evidently fearing the shallow water, 
he turned and made directly for me with all the speed 
of a reckless autoist. I reeled like mad, blessing my 
quadruple fly-reel, as I realized that I was able to keep 
a taut line upon my capture. (Beg pardon — hooked 
fish.) Passing near the canoe, I caught a glimpse .of 
his magnificent proportions and imagined that he was 
longer and heavier than a certain mounted specimen 
that graces the place of honor above a well-remembered 
fireplace. I grudgingly gave him line, made him fight 
for every inch, tiring him as best I could. For the way 
to fight a great pike on a fly-rod is to fight him. Never 
let the fish conduct the battle: that is the prerogative 
of the fisherman. 

A fault-finding correspondent, who can see no sport 
in fly-fishing for members of the pike family, writes: 
"But a great pike or pickerel will not leap from the 
water, as does a bass or salmon." No, not as does a 
bass or salmon, but as a great pike. The leap of the 
great pike, while not as finished and spectacular as 
that of the small-mouth, say, is no less confusing, 
dangerous, and tackle-testing. He throws himself 

92 



FLY-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 

awkwardly from the water, seldom, if ever, clearing 
it, but managing somehow to fall upon the line three 
times out of five unless the angler be learned in the 
fish's ways and more than a tyro with fly tackle. 
That a five-, ten-, or fifteen-pound fish falling upon a 
line will work havoc with the best of tackle, no rodster 
needs be told. The leap of a twenty- or thirty-pound 
fish, especially if near the boat, is something to wit- 
ness and dream about when angling days are over. 

Believing, perhaps, that he could play the trick, or 
leaping, maybe, in an excess of terror, my capture 
reared — I do not know how better to express it — and, 
I honestly believe, tumbled over backward! But failing 
to fall upon the taut line, the tactic availed him noth- 
ing. Again he was away for the weeds, but a steady 
strain discouraging, he gave up, went to the bottom 
and sulked. But I would none of that, stirring him 
up with strength of line and rod alone. Again on the 
surface, he wallowed like a bathing elephant. But 
manifestly he was weakening, and I was glad of it, for 
arm and eye were weary. The first time I brought him 
alongside, the sight of the boat sent him scurrying 
away with a sudden access of strength; but I only 
bided my time, for I knew it could not endure. Again 
I brought him in, and again he turned away in spite 
of me. I realized the end was near, transferred the 
rod to my left hand, placed the 22 pistol within easy 
reach, and reeled him in. A single shot between 
wicked, malevolent eyes, a moil of blood-flecked water, 
and I plunged home the gaff. 

I have learned from much canoe fishing that it is 
never the part of wisdom to lift, or attempt to lift, such 
a fish into the boat when alone, if it can be avoided. So 

93 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

towing my capture at the stern, I paddled to the 
marshy shore and dragged the heavy body out upon 
the grass. To those who can see no beauty in the fish 
nor sport in its capture I only say, I wish you had been 
with me that morning. The battle had been great, 
just great, and I have been in at the finish of many a 
mighty bass and weighty rainbow. As to beauty, 
well, that spotted greenish-gray body, irradiant, 
scintillating, was not devoid of beauty. His had been 
a good fight, and he had surrendered only to the 
inevitable, and that would have been enough for me 
had he been as ugly in appearance as a bullhead. 
I wish to emphasize two points regarding the end of 
the fight: First, that I did not attempt to lift the 
fish into the canoe; second, that I killed the great 
pike with a well-directed shot before attempting to 
use the gaff. A fish of fifteen pounds and upward is 
something of a problem upon a gaff, unless stunned 
with a shot or blow before pricked with steel. Many 
a capsized canoeman and angler mourning loss of 
record fish will bear me out. Always play the great 
pike until exhausted, and then for two or three min- 
utes, "just for good measure," before attempting to 
gaff. 

What was that? "What did I do with the fish?" 
Foolish, foolish. Baked great pike is not to be sneezed 
at, as will appear when we reach the chapter upon 
cookery. 

My excuse for narrating the foregoing incident is 
twofold: Its suggestiveness ; and then, "It is not all 
of fishing to fish." If one could collect and publish 
the just-as-it-happened stories of anglers in various 
parts of the country, what a wealth of authoritative 

94 



FLY-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 

and entertaining information we would have at our 
command! The angling writer who cannot forget 
himself now and then and "just yarn" of his own ex- 
periences is, to my mind at least, hardly a good guide 
to follow. Strikes me that the majority of the angling 
writers of to-day take their job too seriously. We 
have lost our Primes, our "Adirondack" Murrays, our 
Fred Mathers, and their ilk, and, lo, in this strenuous 
time there are none bold enough, unless it be van 
Dyke, to take their place. 

In fly-fishing for great pike, the wise angler will 
devote considerable time and thought to the selection 
of a rod, for more will depend upon that part of the 
outfit than upon all the rest of the paraphernalia. The 
rod can be somewhat longer and stiffer than those used 
for black bass, for more will be required of it. The 
salmon rod, by and large, is a good tool. I should say, 
then, for a general-purpose rod one weighing in the 
neighborhood of twelve ounces should be selected, 
though I have gone up against several doughty fish 
with my favorite nine-ounce black bass fly-rod. My 
reason for recommending the heavier tool is that 
sometimes the great pike fisherman will connect with 
a twenty- or thirty-pound fish, and then where would 
he be with a three-ounce rod? I saw one weighing 
twenty-nine pounds that was taken on a nine-ounce 
rod. But it is not wise to subject so light a rod to 
such a strain. The fly should be large and somewhat 
heavy; therefore, a heavy rod can be used with ease. 
A properly built twelve-ounce rod of either split-bam- 
boo or solid wood will give the angler sufficient casting 
power and action when it comes to playing the fish. 

I have said that the rod is the most important item 
95 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

of the outfit, and will let that stand, but the line must 
be strong also. I use a rather heavy enameled line, 
such as is employed for salmon fishing, and have yet 
to find cause for complaint. Undoubtedly one could 
use an ordinary trout line (I once played and landed 
a two-pound black bass on an ordinary No. 60 cotton 
thread; nevertheless I am not recommending such 
thread for bass fishing), but it would be very unwise 
to run the risks. At least 100 yards of either size D 
or E should be about right. One could use the regular 
silk casting line, but it does not lend itself so admirably 
to fly-casting, and remember, fly-fishing for great pike 
is fly-casting, though the tackle may seem somewhat 
exaggerated to a user of 2>^ounce trout rods. 

In the matter of a reel I am certain that as a rule I 
would select a double multiplier, though I have used 
large single-actions with supreme satisfaction. How- 
ever, instant control of the line is a matter of para- 
mount importance, and I find that that can be most 
happily secured by using a regulation multiplying 
reel. Of course in employing such a reel the off-set 
handle will bother to a certain extent, and the angler 
who cannot suffer a tangled reel handle with equa- 
nimity is strongly urged to provide himself with a 
regular single-action salmon winch. The reel should 
be wide of barrel and easy running, for the fish should 
be played from the reel, once it is hooked. Do not 
attempt to play the fish with the hand and with up- 
heaped line on the bottom of the boat. Confusion and 
disaster are almost certain to result. 

When it comes to the selection of the fly, there is a 
wide field for choice. Of course, sometimes the large 
bass flies will prove availing, but they are most de- 

96 








I 






1 


JJ 




r 












1 ' 




1 




^i 




1 1 




a 



3 



5 



6 



SOME OF THE AUTHOR'S PIKE RODS 

1. "Dowagiac," split-bamboo. 

2. Solid wood, western yew, built by author. 

3. De Lux, Bristol. 

4. "Shakespeare," three-piece split-bamboo, 6' — 6" long. 

5. Seven-ounce split-bamboo fly-rod. 

6. Stiff live-bait rod, 9' — 6" long, split-bamboo, built by author. 



FLY-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 

cidedly not recommended by the writer as a regular 
lure. The factory-built buck-tails, especially the white 
tabbed with red, are very good, though I do not see 
the necessity for the treble hooks ordinarily employed. 
I prefer a single hook. I have seldom experienced any 
difficulty in hooking a fish, once I have gotten him to 
rise. The hooking is a matter for the angler's wrist, 
as in all fly-fishing. If the angler has had any experi- 
ence in building flies, is never so great a tyro, only 
knows how "to stick the feathers together," he should 
tie his own fuzzy wuzzies. The more flamboyant and 
outlandish the creation, the more attractive -it will 
prove. Let red figure in every fly, is one of my cheer- 
fully obeyed rules. I made one once out of black 
feathers, a large scraggly fly, with a streaming red 
tail, which in a certain northern river proved very 
attractive on bright days. As a rule, the fly will prove 
sufficiently weighty, once it is wet, to sink beneath 
the surface, and I have never found "floating flies" 
very successful for great pike. The fly should sink 
six or eight inches beneath the surface. If the fly is 
unusually light, one could weight with a wrapping of 
tinfoil or lead, but do not render the fly so heavy as 
to make the casting comparable to lure handling. 
Bear in mind that you are fly-fishing and deport your- 
self as a fly-fisher. 

I am convinced that in fly-fishing for great pike the 
time of the day is not so much a matter of vital im- 
portance as in other handling of the feathery lures. 
I have found great pike rising at midday with avidity, 
and again I have discovered that they would not look 
at my most temptingly offered lures at midday, in the 
evening, or early morning. I think there is no more 
7 97 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

moody fish which the fly-fisher can rightly regard as 
his own than the great pike. When he will, he will ; 
and when he won't, he won't. That is about all there is 
to it. In unrelieved hot weather, such as comes in 
midsummer, when most of us are compelled to take 
■our vacations, undoubtedly the early morning hours, 
from six to nine o'clock, are the most prolific in rises. 
Strange to relate, I have had indifferent success in the 
evening as a rule, though there have been occasions 
when evenings have been good. When the atmosphere 
has been heavy, possessed of that something which we 
say presages a thunderstorm, I have found the fish 
rising freely. And, too, there have been days of this 
sort when I failed utterly to bring them to the surface, 
though they would take an under-water or live bait 
freely. Again, let me emphasize what I have said 
before: When it comes to fly-fishing at least, the great 
pikes are about as moody fishes as flirt caudal fins in 
the eager angler's face. 

The methods of the great pike fisher might fittingly 
be described as emphasized or exaggerated black bass 
casting. The methods of handling the lures are prac- 
tically identical. The feathers are cast into likely 
spots and allowed to sink for a minute or so, or until 
some six or eight inches beneath the surface, then re- 
trieved with a tantalizing movement. Such a move- 
ment causes the feathers or hairs to open and close, 
fanlike; where the red tag or "tail" is used, disclosing 
it with every jerk. It is very striking, and from the 
great pike's point of view, attractive. The particular 
pattern of fly is not so much a matter of importance, 
so long as it is bright and commotion-making. I 
much doubt if, strictly speaking, it is true fly-fishing; 

98 



FLY-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 

simply, the fish takes the moving lure to be something 
edible because it moves. As has been pointed out 
before, every member of the pike family is dowered 
with an insatiable appetite, and anything is grist that 
comes to his mill. Realizing this, the fisherman need 
not worry about pattern, color, and so forth. All that 
is required is a bunch of feathers sufficiently con- 
spicuous to attract attention. 

In order to render fly-fishing effective, the angler 
must be perfectly familiar with the water to be whipped. 
There is little use in casting here and there at random, 
though that haphazard method may result in a capture 
once in a while, when a great pike happens to be within 
sight and unalarmed. When the angler is acquainted 
with the lurking place of the fish, moves circum- 
spectly and with knowledge, he is as sure of a rise as 
he can be of anything in the ichthyic world. A great 
pike must attack a bunch of feathers striking the sur- 
face of the water with a splash, if unwarned by shadow 
of boat or rod. A moderately long line should be cast. 
I know of no fishing where ability to lay a long line is 
a greater asset. The marge of a weed-bed, especially a 
tangle of water lilies, is a good spot. Let the fly strike 
just at the edge and be ready with a taut line to re- 
trieve the instant the fish strikes, or as soon as the fly 
has sunk to the required depth. With a taut line the 
chances are that the fish will hook himself; otherwise 
no wise trout will more quickly and effectively reject 
the hook. 

A deep pool, such as occurs in all great pike-infested 
water, is a good place for fly-casting early in the morn- 
ing and again in the evening, though on a bright day 
the difficulty one experiences in approaching such a 

99 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

place unheralded is so great that an angler will be more 
than likely to frighten a fish to the bottom. More 
than once, just at the edge of night, I have let my 
boat down to the head of such a pool by the aid of a 
long rope, and so circumvented the wary old denizens, 
to my great joy and sport. I can assure the reader 
there is an abundance of sport in a twelve-pound great 
pike at the end of ioo feet of line attached to a reel 
on a twelve-ounce rod. Take my word for it, you will 
be required to call upon all your skill and angling 
knowledge to bring such a fish to gaff. Always my 
method is to fish out the near water first, covering 
carefully and without haste all the pool until the far 
corners are reached. I should emphasize "without 
haste." Perhaps more fish are frightened from our 
lures by our overeagerness than by any lack of skill 
on our part, a statement which is true of all angling. 
The old fable of the hare and the tortoise is very appli- 
cable to the angling game. Then, too, the fisherman 
who has learned how to make haste slowly has dis- 
covered the great secret of enjoyment, as well as of 
success. Where others hurry, I often loiter — and catch 
fish. 

I have had but poor success wading for great pike, 
for waters containing fish worth while are seldom 
shallow enough for wading. I fished one lake once 
where there was what might be termed a ledge of 
clay some two hundred feet or so from the shore, over 
the edge of which the water was probably in the 
neighborhood of forty feet deep. There were no 
marging weeds of any variety. However, the lake was 
alive, literally, with medium-sized great pike (from 
three to six pounds), and standing near the edge of 

ioo 



FLY-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 

the deep water upon the day when I visited the lake, 
an angler at all expert with rod and reel could take his 
quota of fish without trouble. I should think one 
might wade certain rivers, though he would have to 
proceed with care, lest he get beyond his depth. I 
would not advise the use of waders of any sort for 
such an undertaking, and I would insist that the 
angler be an expert swimmer. 

Remains in this chapter but space to urge once more 
the necessity for strong and dependable landing tools — 
a good .32 revolver of some sort and a sharp gaff. 
Lacking the gun, have a good thick club handy. Never 
attempt to land or gaff a great pike — any pike — until he 
is thoroughly exhausted; not then unless first stunned 
with a bullet or blow between the eyes. It is truly 
surprising what even a six-pound fish will do when you 
undertake to slip your fingers through his gills, a pro- 
cedure fraught with considerable danger. A "pike 
bite" produces a disagreeable sore. Anyway, the fun 
of the game is playing the fish, so let us prolong the 
fun. Play every fish to exhaustion always, unless you 
are actually in need of food. 



i©i 



Chapter VIII 

Trolling for Great Pike 

"Burnished with blue and bright as damask steel, 
Behold the Belone of pointed bill ; 
All fringed with teeth, no greedier fish than they 
E'er broke in serried lines our foaming bay. 
Soon as the practiced crew this frolic throng 
Behold advancing rapidly along, 
Adjusting swift a tendon to the line, 
They throw, then drag it glistening through the brine." 
— Ciannetazzio, Sixteenth Century. 

PERHAPS it is true, as sometimes asserted, that 
trolling has fallen into disuse these latter days, 
since the advent of the short rod and multiply- 
ing reel, which, if so, only proves that anglers some- 
times forego a great pleasure in order to secure a greater. 
I hold that trolling for great pike is a true and legiti- 
mate sport, and to be fully enjoyed should be practiced 
with short rod and multiplying reel. I have used the 
hand-line, whirling the heavily weighted spoon about 
my head, so casting far from the boat and retrieving 
hand-over-hand. I have used the long ' cane pole, ' ' with 
line of equal length, without a reel, so capturing many 
a lusty great pike. I am not crying down those meth- 
ods, believing that a sportsman could use them and 
remain a sportsman, were he the right sort of a man; 
but long experience has taught me that there is more 
real enjoyment in playing a fish from the reel, using 
the regular heavy casting outfit. Furthermore, I 
honestly believe that so accoutered I can capture two 

1 02 



TROLLING FOR GREAT PIKE 

fish to the hand-liner's one, and keep it up all day, both 
being equally well acquainted with the water. 

I realize full well that the foregoing lays me open to 
the charge, the odious charge, of porcine proclivities, 
but I must trust that those who are familiar with my 
writings, as well as those who have fished with me, will 
not be "backward in coming forward" in my defense. 
I am not, and never have been, a mere fisher for fish. 
That is why the unjust strictures of men who take 
five fish to my one always hurt. However, I long ago 
came to believe with Elbert Hubbard that it is foolish 
to attempt to explain. Our friends do not need ex- 
planations, our enemies would not believe us anyway. 

As I have already intimated, for trolling I always 
employ the short rod, the regular bait-casting rod; 
not the very light tool, but the so-called "southern 
bass" type. It is needless to add that the steel is a 
splendid article for the sport, but by all means pur- 
chase as good a one as possible. There are grades in 
steel, as in every rod material. The reel should be — 
indeed, must be, for best results — rather large. I like 
at least 7$ yards of line; am better satisfied if I know 
my reel contains 100. The line should be size F, test- 
ing 25 pounds, though if one is trolling where unusually 
large fish are sometimes connected up with, the fisher- 
man will feel more safe if he be provided with a line 
testing up to 28 or 30 pounds. However, a new line 
even smaller than the F will hold a great pike. Never 
venture the sport with an old line or one that has been 
much used in casting. It is a very good plan to de- 
vote the trolling-line to that sport exclusively, drying 
carefully and thoroughly after each excursion, and not 
using it overly long, either. 

103 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

In the matter of the trolling spoon I do not know 
that there is much choice, though naturally I have my 
prejudices, emphatic ones, too. However, I am chari- 
table and fair-minded enough to admit that angling 
prejudices, even my own, are not always well founded. 
I give first place always to the fluted spoon, with the 
kidney a close second. I have not much use for the 
new and odd shapes, one sometimes sees on the market, 
though many of them may possess untold virtue. In 
my experience I have found the two old reliable shapes 
hooking the. most fish, so what will you? Of course it 
may be possible that I use the favorite spoons more 
faithfully, and I know from experience there is some- 
thing in believing in tackle. When an angler "knows" 
that a certain lure is going to take fish, it generally 
does. My friend up at the college, the learned pro- 
fessor of psychology, explains just why believing in a 
bit of tackle reacts, etc., but I have plain old-fashioned 
faith — and catch fish. 

For trolling there is no better and more convenient 
reel than the level-winder, but unfortunately few are 
large enough to handle ioo yards of 28-pound test 
line, though some will spool size F. The fisherman 
must not attempt to crowd the spool, for it spells 
disaster every time. A little reflection will explain 
why. It is the last ten yards of line which is most 
important; that must be got on the reel or the gaff 
will never reach the fish, and that ten yards must be 
spooled after the reel is already comfortably filled. 
It is easier and better to use a line a few yards shy of 
the required length than to employ one taxing the 
capacity of the reel. Lacking the level-winder, any 
well-made reel, solid and thoroughly dependable, will 

104 



TROLLING FOR GREAT PIKE 

do. The reel is important, for it will be used con- 
tinuously in such trolling as I have in mind. 

While the angler may have a boatman, perhaps he is 
of the go-alone variety, in which case he will need a 
rod holder. The instant a fish strikes — and there will 
be no need of a bell to warn of the moment — the angler 
will want the rod in his hands. To have a rod clamped 
in by a set-screw, as I once saw an arrangement, must 
be peculiarly vexatious. The wise rodster will not 
attempt to troll without a boatman or some variety 
of rod holder. The practice of laying a rod on the 
bottom of a boat, tip protruding over the stern, is 
hazardous in the extreme. A large fish, or even a snag, 
may jerk the whole outfit from the boat before the 
lone fisherman can drop his oars, much less grasp the 
rod. Even though a reel have just sufficient pressure 
of drag to keep the line from paying out, the unexpected 
may happen at any moment, the line slightly snarl, 
and the fisherman lose his outfit. 

It will not be necessary here to repeat what has 
been said upon landing tools — gaff, club, revolver, etc. ; 
only, the angler who neglects to plan for the gaffing 
of the record fish is getting ready to lose it. Always 
the wise fisherman conducts himself as though he 
were going to catch the prize-winner every time he 
shoves his boat out from the landing. To do otherwise 
is to court disaster. More than once I have lost a good 
fish because I happened to be without a net or gaff, 
and thought it would not matter anyway. 

Quite recently I left my cottage one morning for a 
day's trout fishing on a little stream much fished by 
me. A few rods from the door I bethought me of the 
net, then went on, remarking to myself: "Shucks! 

105 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

What is the use of carrying a net, anyway? I never 
get big fish on the 'Onion'." So I went on without the 
net. That day I hooked a German brown, the largest 
of the season anywhere, and I lost him after exhausting 
him, simply because I was without a net. Then and 
there I resolved to carry a net forever and forever. 
(I have worn out two nets on that stream since that 
morning, and have failed to hook, even see, another 
fish as large as the one that got away.) 

Now the same thing has happened to me in great 
pike fishing, and I presume has happened to others. 
Lacking a gaff or .32 revolver, a good thick club will 
come in handy. I am sometimes asked about the 
automatic gaffs one occasionally sees in the tackle 
stores. Well, I have attempted to use two different 
makes, and always with anything but flattering re- 
sults. I have yet to find one that will hold a great 
pike. The shape of the fish's body is such that the 
tines of the gaff slip off, in spite of the angler's best 
efforts. It is not clear to me why it happens. I only 
know it does. 

I well remember a large muskellunge — a muskie is 
but one of the pikes, you will remember — that I lost 
in the Chippewa waters of Wisconsin. About half- 
way down from Glidden I hooked what I think was 
an unusually large fish for even those waters, hooked 
and played him until he floated helplessly, belly up, 
on the surface within reach of the canoe. Then I 
lunged with the automatic gaff, one of those that is 
supposed to "go off" when the fish is touched. It 
sprung, all right, but the tines failed to penetrate the 
hide of the fish. With a tremendous flop the great 
fellow shot out. I nearly broke my rod, for I was not 

106 



TROLLING FOR GREAT PIKE 

expecting such a denouement. Why the gaff did not 
hold the fish is more than I can understand. The 
tines would penetrate a block of pine wood to a depth 
of half an inch or so; yet the round, yielding body of 
the fish offered the steel no secure hold. The mus- 
kellunge did not break away on the first failure, but 
while I was resetting the gaff he was reviving, and 
when I brought him near enough for a second attempt, 
the plunge of the gaff was met with a terrific tackle- 
destructive surface leap. Mr. Muskie was free, and I 
filched of a good spoon. Nowadays I prefer a simple 
old-fashioned gaff, plain and solid, lacking which a 
good heavy club, built after the shape of a policeman's 
"billy." 

As has been emphasized several times in these 
pages, the secret of successful gaffing is the complete 
exhaustion of the fish. I know that great pike are not 
regarded very highly as fighters, but I must confess 
that again and again I have been surprised, not only 
by the fish's resourcefulness, but by his staying qual- 
ities as well. More than once I have had a fish hooked 
on a spoon stay with the game for fifteen minutes. 
I am sure that other fishermen can narrate incidents 
where the fish has "come to life" just when the gaff 
was about to be used, to the chagrin and bitter dis- 
appointment of the angler. Perhaps it is not the 
sight of the boat that awakens the fish to renewed 
strength, but it looks uncommonly like it to me. Oh, 
I know certain nature students ask with great scorn, 
"What can a fish know about a boat?" But to my 
mind the fact that a fish cannot know a boat as a 
boat proves nothing. Every fisherman will back me 
up when I say that no sooner does a great pike, or 

107 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

almost any game fish, as for that, near a boat than he 
is imbued with new energy and fighting strength. 
If it is not the sight of the boat and its occupants, I 
would like to know what it is that stirs the fish to 
unlooked-for activity. Never count a great pike 
played out until it is. 

I am afraid that trolling is not generally under- 
stood. I realize how foolish that must sound, but I 
make the assertion only after years of observation 
and personal study. Watching men engaged in the 
sport, again and again I have been impressed with 
the fact that the average fisherman does not under- 
stand the best and most successful methods of pursu- 
ing the game. Nine out of ten anglers troll too fast 
and do not allow sufficient line. This was brought 
home to me a number of years ago, the incident serv- 
ing as a starting point for my study. 

I was fishing, trolling, on a small lake with a com- 
panion. He used a short line, and I a comparatively 
long one, from 1 50 to 200 feet. I caught exactly three 
fish to his one. That convinced me as to the efficacy 
of a long line. The second point I noticed, which 
caused me to do considerable thinking, was the fact 
that every time we "came about" I would get a strike 
or hook a fish. Finally I came to the conclusion that 
the slowing up of the spoon in turning around gave 
the great pike a better chance to grasp the lure. 
My companion laughed at my "notions," but when 
it came my turn to row I gradually slowed up, and, lo, 
we both got strikes. The seed was sown. I began my 
investigations. Now I can say without fear of success- 
ful contradiction that what we often call a "Ashless 
water," or a water in which great pike are "off their 

108 



TROLLING FOR GREAT PIKE 

feed," will prove remunerative if we but troll slow. 
Troll slow, just as slow as you can, and keep the spoon 
above the weeds and free of the bottom. 

When the angler uses i oo feet of line or more, very 
little extra weight will be needed; the weight of the 
line and lure will be sufficient. The reader can readily 
see that when the boat slows up the lure is bound to 
sink, too deeply if much weight in the way of "sinkers" 
is added. Of course the character of the water fished 
must be taken into consideration. When it is snaggy 
or very weedy, one cannot handle so long a line. But 
always use as long a line as possible, so the hook will 
be well behind the boat and its disturbance. 

Which brings me to another matter that has been 
discussed in a preceding chapter — the shyness of fish. 
The better I become acquainted with great pike, the 
more certain I am that they are more shy than most 
anglers think them. The shadow of a boat is sufficient 
to make them suspicious, and the splash of an oar 
will send them to shelter. What fisherman has not 
seen a great pike follow a lure up to the boat and then 
turn and glide away, a ghostly specter, without strik- 
ing? Shy. Now it is a safe bet that if the fisherman 
were to stand off from the weed-bed or lair of the fish 
and cast in, or pass slowly by, the lure 1 50 or 200 feet 
behind the boat, the fish would strike, and strike hard. 
I have proven it in numberless cases. As I have said 
several times in this work already, I am learning to 
treat all members of the pike family as though they 
were credited with being as shy as brook trout on a 
bright day. The net results have been truly surpris- 
ing. I can go out alone where the other fellows say 
there are no fish and take a mess almost any day. 

109 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

The very best trolling ground is in the deep water 
along the edges of weed-beds, though of course the 
fisherman must have a care lest he hook a weed. 
Hooking weeds is not disastrous, though mighty un- 
pleasant when upward of ioo feet of line is dragging 
behind the boat. The next best place is over sub- 
merged weeds, though that variety of trolling is to be 
attempted only with much prayer and patience. 
Always the hooks will become entangled with the up- 
rearing weeds, for not always are the tops of submerged 
weeds of an even height. Usually the weed will break 
and so the hook be freed, though cumbered with a 
tangle of cerements that must be removed. But if the 
weed does not break, there should be sufficient line 
upon the reel spool to obviate disaster. It is never 
the part of wisdom to use up the last ten yards of line, 
no matter what the temptation to let out more. One 
never knows what may happen and when. Usually 
accidents happen when the fisherman is unprepared 
or, rather, when he has prepared for them. Next to 
the weedy places I think I would seek out the inlet 
or outlet, or deep water just off bars, where minnows 
are found. There is little use in trolling in deep water, 
unless there is especial attraction for great pike — 
weeds, food, etc. The wise angler attempts at least 
to reason out the whys and wherefores. The longer I 
angle, the more thought I give to the subject, the more 
thoroughly convinced I am that fish use more "reason" 
than most of us give them credit for. I am certain 
that there is some good "fish-reason" why a red-and- 
white rag is more attractive to great pike than an all 
red or all white rag. He who knows the most answers 
to the whys of angling catches the most fish. 

no 



TROLLING FOR GREAT PIKE 

There are times when a baited spoon is the success- 
ful lure. I presume a consistent purist would not use 
the two in combination, one being live-bait fishing 
and the other trolling. Perhaps the practice is violat- 
ing the highest ethics of sport — as to that I will not 
attempt to say. Only it is a good idea to resort to a 
frog-baited spoon, when other methods of trolling fail. 
I tried out the following on a certain lake quite re- 
cently and several times. Made a circuit of the fish- 
grounds with an unbaited spoon, then with one to 
which a frog was attached, followed by a frog alone. 
Very seldom was the unbaited spoon struck, never the 
simple frog; often great pike took the two in combina- 
tion. "Why?" The answer is not easy. Perhaps the 
whirling spoon attracted the water-wolf's attention, 
in the first place, and, finding the frog, he struck. I 
only know that whenever I tried out the method on 
my "laboratory lake," it won great pike. Of course it 
is a "froggy lake" — much grass and many weed-beds, 
where a cast live frog is a splendid lure late evening 
and early morning. As I think I said in the chapter 
on live-bait fishing, I doubt the value of frogs in water 
uninhabited by them. 

As there are frog harnesses and minnow hooks for 
casting, so these contrivances can be utilized for bait 
trolling with little difficulty. It is a good plan to wire 
the frog or minnow to the treble of the spoon, if one is 
unprovided with some sort of harness or safety-pin 
arrangement. I have had little success with minnow- 
baited trolling hooks, however. A streamer of red- 
and-white strips of cloth attached to the hooks some- 
times serves to attract the fish's attention. There are 
days, too, when the buck-tail, mentioned in the chap- 

iii 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

ter on fly-fishing, is a good trolling lure, though it 
simply travels through the water and makes no com- 
motion whatever. 

Trolling is peculiarly a lake sport; for, unless the 
river be so sluggish as to be hardly worthy the name of 
river, the current will render boat-trolling exceedingly 
difficult. However, there are rivers sluggish enough to 
make trolling upstream feasible. Downstream is more 
difficult, as the spoon must travel very fast indeed to 
overcome the influence of the current. Often there 
are wide bends and deep eddies in even a compar- 
atively rapid river, where trolling can be resorted to 
with good results. Never pass a grassy slough or 
bayou opening off from a river. Such spots are almost 
certain to be the home of large great pike. I have 
already mentioned the sloughs of Lake Superior as 
pike-full places. 

There is a method of fishing small streams with 
trolling spoons that I have found very attractive. 
Cast out and allow the current to carry the spoon 
down. Begin to reel when the spoon is opposite your 
position, so as to bring the spoon back quartering with 
the current. However, as a rule, it is in the eddies 
and backwaters that the angler must look for his 
fish, for great pike are not swift-water lovers. Large 
great pike will preempt a deep pool and hold it against 
all intruders until caught. I have hooked the same 
fish — I am morally certain it was the same great pike 
— three times before getting the hook to hold. One 
reason why I thought but one fish inhabited the pool 
was because, after I succeeded in securing the big great 
pike, I took no more from that spot for some time — 
three weeks, if I remember correctly. . 

112 




SPOONS 

1. Salt-water rig, but good for great pike and 'lunge. 

2. Knowls' "Automatic Striker." 3. "Skinner fluted." 

4. "Slim Eli." 5 and 6. South Bend "Muskie Spoons." 

A COMPACT CASTING OUTFIT 

This case will contain the rods shown, revolver, gaff, three reels, and 
a generous supply of lures, etc. 



TROLLING FOR GREAT PIKE 

Returning to lake fishing. I well remember a little 
Wisconsin lake, surrounded by jack-pine crowned hills 
and bleak, uncultivated and uncultivatable sand plains, 
which was actually a great pike paradise. One side 
of the lake was marshy, while the other was fringed 
by a mass of water lilies. I make no mention of the 
"ends," for the lake was so narrow that the "ends" 
were but fingers of water. Where the lake emptied 
into another and larger body of water were a forest of 
cat-tails and a field of sawgrass. Early one morning, 
skirting those cat-tails, my spoon spinning all of 130 
feet behind the boat, I undertook to swing around 
without taking in any line. Suddenly the bowing line 
snapped taut, and I naturally supposed that I was 
hooked to one of the waving cat-tails. Dropping my 
oars in clattering disgust, disregardful of fish, I began 
to reel. Imagine my astonishment and joy, when a 
big granddad great pike lumbered to the surface with 
a great splashing and aqueous racket. Setting the 
drag on the reel, I replaced the rod in the holder, 
grabbed the oars, and urged that boat out into the 
lake. So interested did I become in the battle, once 
I was in the center of the water, that I paid little 
attention to the boat, in due time finding my fish safe 
in the marging haven of reeds. And yet everything 
held. I coaxed the fish out, with a mass of weeds and 
rushes fast to its head, and finally vanquished and 
gaffed him. At the tent he tipped the scales at two 
ounces over eight pounds. Not a big fish, truly, but 
one that had given me unlimited sport. 

That is one of the attractivities of great pike trolling. 
The angler can find it almost anywhere, and the outfit 
required, aside from the boat, is neither elaborate nor 
8 113 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

expensive. That little lake just mentioned, which 
must be nameless here, was a favorite spot of ours for 
eight years. We could drive to it in a few hours, and 
so poor was the land that, though surrounded by 
distant farms, we were absolutely alone, away from 
folks, yet not too distant from a little city. Since 
leaving that section of the country, I have often won- 
dered if the little lake remains, as of old, as little fished 
and as full of fish. I wonder if the farmers have con- 
quered the sand, cleared away the jack pine, and if fields 
of rye now wave where once there was nothing but 
ferns? If not, and I ever become wealthy, I think I 
should like to purchase the lake and the surrounding 
hills for sweet memories' sake. It was there my only 
child caught her first fish, spent many happy vacation 
days of childhood. There used to be some big great 
pike in that water, too. 



114 



Chapter IX 

Ice- Fishing for Great Pike 

"The fishermen sit by their camp fire of rotten pine wood, 
so wet and chilly that even smoke in their eyes is a kind of com- 
fort. There they sit, ever and anon scanning their reels to see 
if they have fallen, and, if not catching any fish, still getting 
what they went for, though they may not be aware of it, i. e., 
a wilder experience than the town affords." — Thoreau's Journal. 

THERE is no fresh-water game fish which lends 
itself more admirably to the requirements of the 
winter fisherman than do great pike and pickerel, 
though of course the former is the preferred fish, be- 
cause of larger size and greater toothsomeness. I pre- 
sume any fish that will take live bait in summer can 
be caught in winter, provided the eager angler knows 
where to look for them. This does not apply to the 
black bass in the North, for they become semi-dormant 
with the arrival of cold weather, though I once took 
a large-mouth in Wisconsin in January when fishing 
through the ice for great pike. Probably more anglers 
seek the ubiquitous perch and unimportant members 
of the sunfish family than go in quest of the larger 
pikes, thinking no doubt that the former are more 
readily taken through the ice in midwinter. I have 
no charge to bring against the sunfish and perch. 
Indeed I consider the latter the most palatable fish — 
fresh-water fish — save the aristocratic speckled trout. 
But that is not saying that a six-pound great pike is 
to be treated with contempt by the epicure or passed 

115 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

lightly by by the lover of the red-blooded sport of 
ice-fishing. 

The tackle required for winter fishing is neither 
elaborate nor expensive. While I have known men to 
take rod and reel, with the thought of playing the 
capture, a little reflection should warn one that the 
sharp edges of the ice will soon work havoc with the 
best of lines. I do not imagine that it would be a 
very pleasant experience to have a six- or eight-pound 
fish escape, trailing ten or fifteen feet of line. Then, too, 
the knowledge that the fish was at liberty so handi- 
capped would not be conducive to happy dreams. 
Somehow one thinks of the winter life of northern 
fish more sympathetically than he does of their summer 
existence, though undoubtedly they are just as "happy" 
in their ice-locked home as they are when the warm 
summer winds roughen the surface of the water. Lest 
we find ourselves discussing that age-old question as 
to whether or not fish suffer, we will return promptly 
to the subject at hand — winter great pike fishing. 

The "tip-up" is familiar to every fisherman, and 
there is no better contrivance for small fish, such as 
perch, sunfish, and pickerel; but for the larger and 
more combative great pike, a stronger outfit is re- 
quired, something that wilf give them line when 
needed. As winter fishing is indulged in when the 
water is freezing and ofttimes the set line is left to 
care for itself for hours at a stretch, it follows that the 
spare line must be far enough below the surface of 
the water to be beyond the influence of the frost. One 
of the most satisfactory arrangements ever employed 
by me was a simple loop, made by passing the line 
around the four fingers of the left hand until sufficient 

116 



ICE-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 

spare line was "bunched." Three or four turns were 
made about the middle of the skein and the end of 
the line passed under the wrapping. (See the illustra- 
tion.) When a fish seized the bait, he would pull out 
the loop and the skein would automatically fall apart. 
The scheme is a good one for a heavy set line. 

If the fisherman plans upon watching his lines, then 
he may use a "tip-up," or even a twig thrust into the 
surface of the ice or snow. But always the line should 
be attached to a stick midway between either end, 
and long enough so that, should an obstreperous great 
pike swallow the bait and start for the lower end of 
the lake, he will find it impossible to take the whole 
outfit with him. Not simply a hunger for baked great 
pike, but common humanity will seek to prevent the 
escape of a well-hooked fish with an outfit. 

The line should be rather heavy. The old-fashioned 
trolling or chalk line is ideal, being strong and com- 
paratively cheap. There is no necessity for expensive 
braided silk when it comes to set lines. Cheap cotton 
will serve as well or better. The hook must be heavy 
and well made, say, size 7-0 or 8-0 ringed Kirby, 
with a wire gimp or leader, to which are attached one 
or two swivels. (The "fussy" fisherman will gimp his 
own hooks.) A rather heavy sinker, No. 6 or 7, will be 
required, in order to get the line out quickly. Where 
there is much current, two sinkers may be required 
and used. So much for the tackle. Now for the bait. 

I have experimented quite at length in the matter 
of baits, and have come to the conclusion that there is 
just one best bait for winter use — minnows, shiner 
minnows. A strip of pork, cut long and thin, is good 
for an over-night bait when needs must, but a live 

117 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

minnow is more attractive. If one is going to watch 
the hook, the minnow can be hooked through the body 
just below the backbone or from the throat up through 
the head. Where the line is to be left set for any 
great length of time, I would advise thrusting the hook 
into the mouth, out through the gills, and back 
through the body. Some set-line fishermen even wire 
on the minnow, using very fine spun steel wire. How- 
ever, I have never resorted to the practice, feeling that 
the previous method described works well enough. 

At first thought the reader might imagine that the 
securing of minnows in midwinter would be something 
of a problem, though they are easily caught by those 
who know where to look for them. Always they can 
be taken from open creeks with a dip-net, and spring- 
fed creeks remain unfrozen even in the coldest of winter 
weather. Minnows congregate — or, should I say 
"school"? — where creeks enter a body of water. In 
midwinter, too, those small members of the fish family 
gather in great schools of countless thousands, crowd- 
ing and pushing one another close up inshore. Per- 
haps they are perishing for want of air; at any rate, 
that is the usual explanation. I only know that, if the 
bait seeker cut a hole in the ice, they will literally 
boil out upon the surface. The taking of a barrel- 
full of shiner minnows is the work of but a few minutes, 
a scoop-shovel serving as satisfactorily as a dip-net. 
Many a fisherman living near a shiner lake lays in a 
supply of summer live bait long before the spring 
break-up. There is little difficulty in securing the 
required minnows, if the winter fisherman knows where 
to look for them. Some men of my acquaintance, 
town dwellers, always keep a barrel of minnows in 

118 



ICE-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 

their basements, summer and winter, so as to be pre- 
pared for fishing whenever the urge is strong upon 
them. 

While undoubtedly a live minnow is the most at- 
tractive, a dead one may be used, provided the fisher- 
man is willing to stand over the hole and "bob"-jerk 
the line up and down. I have found that such a move- 
ment, even when using live bait, is apt to attract 
great pike from a distance. Three set hooks not over 
twenty feet apart, in a triangle, were baited with live 
shiner minnows, and the one I bobbed would take 
fish, while the other two invited great pike in vain. 
It seemed to make no difference which hook I manip- 
ulated, the one I kept in motion attracted the "fresh- 
water wolves." I have noticed the same thing when 
ice-fishing for perch; therefore I assert that, all else 
equal, it is the hook that is kept in motion which takes 
the fish. And why not? Does not a moving minnow 
attract more attention than a stationary one? Which 
is the more attractive in summertime? Upon the 
answer to the foregoing questions will hinge the action 
of the eager winter great pike fisher. 

As to the locality for ice-fishing for great pike, all 
will depend upon where the fish "hang out" in winter- 
time. By and large, a water which affords good sum- 
mer fishing should also supply winter sport. As has 
been pointed out again and again in earlier chapters 
of this work, members of the pike family do not hold 
a roving commission, but linger in a given locality. 
About the only thing that will impel any pike to 
emigrate is dearth of food. Let me add here that 
once upon a time all the pike fraternity of a certain 
Wisconsin lake moved out along toward the last of 

119 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

February. The winter had been an exceptionally cold 
one, with little snow, and ice formed to the depth of 
two feet or so. Perhaps the fish were "smothering." 
I know that minnows were very numerous in the 
water. At any rate, the pickerel and great pike, 
small and large, moved out in a body. I stood on the 
banks of the outlet, a small creek, and watched the 
great fish slip by, fish such as one- dreams of by the 
campfire or hears splash along about eleven o'clock of 
a hot July night. Needless to add, the pike fishing in 
that lake was but indifferent for several seasons after 
the great exodus. But, as was said a moment ago, 
aside from the procreative urge, lack of food is ordi- 
narily the only reason why pike ever move, bag and 
baggage. 

Out in the center of the lake is not apt to prove a 
good place for cutting holes. Better far begin opera- 
tions along the shore just where the water deepens or 
along the edges of weed-beds, both good locations in 
summertime. Sometimes near the outlet or inlet 
there will be a deep channel. Both are good places, 
for minnows congregate there, and where minnows 
foregather there look for their arch enemies, the great 
pike. One must, should, be acquainted with the lake 
or river and the lurking places of great pike, an ac- 
quaintanceship which can be consummated only in 
summertime, for then and then only can depth and 
conformation be studied. Sometimes a reef out in the 
center of the water will supply a good fishing place, 
though at the edge where the water sharply deepens 
will be more apt to give the fisherman a record-breaking 
fish. Which leads me to say that now and then the 
set-line fisher who brayes the winter cold is presented 

1 20 



ICE-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 

with such a fish as seldom comes to the caster's lures 
or bait-fisher's waiting hook. That there are bigger 
fish in the lake than the angler has ever taken, is as 
a rule, I believe, something other than fiction. 

As the reader has undoubtedly already discovered, 
the writer, if not an expert ice fisherman, is an en- 
thusiastic devotee of the sport. One reason winter 
fishing appeals to me is because the outfit is simple 
and there is little "getting ready" necessary. It is 
the very antithesis of ordinary angling where the out- 
fit is as elaborate as the pocketbook of the fisherman 
will allow. The ice fisherman can carry his whole 
paraphernalia in his great-coat pocket; that is, unless 
the ax be considered a part of the outfit. However, 
there are certain supplemental articles which, while 
they are not considered absolutely necessary, are very 
convenient to say the least. An ice-chisel is handy to 
ream out the hole after the ax-blade has struck through 
into the water. Then, too, the coffee pail and fry-pan 
should never be left at home; for I know of no place 
where a cup of hot coffee and a heaping platter of 
fried great pike possess greater value or more com- 
forting power. Every ice fisherman will understand 
when I say that it is more disastrous to forget the 
coffee pail than to forget hooks and lines. 

I remember one warm March morning — it was 
warm on shore — I, in company with one of the best 
and truest sportsmen, who fills an important place in 
the world's scheme of things, set out to capture great 
pike through the ice. Our destination was a slough 
or side-channel opening off from a large body of water. 
Many a monster fish had fallen to my rod there in the 
good old summertime, so why not fish through the ice? 

121 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

Our outfit was the simple one mentioned in the first 
of this chapter — coiled lines, weighted with two sinkers 
and strong, well-made hooks. A small pail of shiner 
minnows provided the needful bait. The lunch oc- 
cupied more place than the outfit. 

Before I ask you to step with me out upon the ice, 
I must pause to pay tribute to the winter shores, so 
different from those of midsummer, yet in a way no 
less attractive. The transforming miracle of draping 
snow is something to wonder at and exclaim over. 
A high bank, with its overhanging cornice of wind- 
blown snow grotesquely gargoyled, rivaled the finished 
work of Old World sculptors. A hideous black stump, 
mute reminder of a vanished forest, had become a 
pulpit of wonder and beauty, covered with an altar- 
cloth of immaculate loveliness. It is easy for the ice 
fisherman to "see things," if he visit the fishing ground 
after a fall of clinging, wet snow. 

I cut the first hole for two reasons: That I might 
warm my sluggish blood, and also demonstrate to my 
companion that there is more to cutting a hole in the 
ice than first appears. Always in magazines you see 
pictures of round holes, the idea being to cut a trench 
around a solid block of ice and lift out the block or 
core intact. But unfortunately that block usually 
breaks into a thousand pieces long before the chopper 
works his painful way through eighteen inches or more 
of solid ice. The plan might work if the ice were under 
a foot thick; not otherwise, unless the hole were made 
too large for fishing. No fancy round hole was my 
goal. I simply cut a long gash in the ice sixteen or so 
inches wide and three or four feet long. No barked 
fingers for me by jamming them against the sharp 

122 



ICE-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 

edges of the hole. As soon as the bit of my ax struck 
through into water, I took an ice-chisel and rimmed 
out the bottom of the hole. Quickly fastening a minnow 
to the hook of an already rigged line, I lowered it some 
fifteen feet beneath the surface and left it to do the 
fishing. Of course, the end of the line was securely 
tied to a stick sufficiently long to prevent the whole 
outfit being carried away. 

I gave the ax and chisel over into the hands of my 
companion and busied myself gathering a heap of 
firewood — logs, stumps, and chunks, some of which 
were so large that I was compelled to roll them out 
upon the ice. A good fire is an important adjunct to 
ice-fishing, for, as I have already intimated, even a 
warm land day is apt to seem exceedingly frigid out 
upon a wind-swept lake. In fact, I do not remember 
a real warm day on the ice, and I have been out when 
the surface was well a-slush, too. When my fire was 
going in good shape, I returned to my friend and found 
that he had finished his first hole and was busily en- 
gaged upon the second. Without paying any atten- 
tion to the first line set, I turned to and helped. When 
we had cut six holes and got out the sets, we concluded 
that we had enough lines and returned to the fire to 
warm up, or rather, unfreeze and dry out, the splash- 
ing of the water having wet our mittens disagreeably. 
The wise winter fisherman carries at least one extra pair. 

It had not been our purpose to bob for great pike, 
simply to set lines and wait for the fish to come along; 
but my friend could not keep away from his holes. 
Consequently, while manipulating the stick attached to 
the last line set, he attracted and hooked a fish. Unfor- 
tunately for him, he did not give the fish sufficient 

123 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

time to swallow the bait, or perhaps it just happened 
to be insecurely hooked. At any rate, just as he brought 
his capture to the surface it gave a convulsive flop 
and fell back into the hole. My companion very 
foolishly plunged his whole arm into the water in an 
ineffectual attempt to grasp the puzzled fish, but failed 
to gain a secure hold — a very difficult thing to do — 
before the great pike had found the opening into the 
water below. My friend said some things that tem- 
pered the wind to the ice fisherman, all right. 

Now I had unbounded faith in the first hole cut, 
for no good reason under the sun, it is true. But when- 
ever did an angler have a reason for the faith that is 
in him, I should like to know? I did not pet nor 
baby it, simply left it to itself, which is sometimes the 
wisest plan. At my second visit I found the skein of 
reserve line pulled out and the minnow gone. With- 
out saying anything — for language was utterly in- 
adequate — I baited up, using the largest minnow in 
the pail. I expected great things of that set. No, I 
did not spit on the hook. 

My companion won first blood by securing a lively 
two-pound fish, which put up quite a fight, but was 
finally drawn out upon the ice to kick and flop its life 
away. It seemed to me that the lucky angler was 
needlessly arrogant and heady over his bit of luck. 
You see, I could not understand why he, a comparative 
greenhorn, should catch the first fish, when I, an old 
hand, caught nothing, like the apostles of old, after 
toiling all night. Well, Luck, especially Fisherman's 
Luck, has always been a perverse, unreasoning jade, 
any way, visiting whomsoever she chooses without 
rhyme or reason. Just to see how patient I could be 

124 



ICE-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 

under affliction, Fate gave the second fish to my chum, 
and then a third, and a good one, too, a pike that 
tipped the scales at seven pounds. I emulated Job 
(outside) and got dinner, frying my friend's first fish. 
So I had my revenge, and revenge is sweet. So was the 
great pike, fried in bacon drippings. Fried bacon and 
great pike, boiled potatoes, bread and butter, coffee, 
and, to top off* with, a quarter-section of old-fashioned 
back-country mince pie, with great fat raisins to pop 
in one's mouth! Reader, did you never toast a 
slice of thick mince pie on a forked stick, cut to fit the 
pie? "No?" Well, you certainly have got something 
to live for. 

After lunch my luck turned, and I secured two good 
fish in short order; indeed, got both on while we were 
eating. My companion secured the next fish, his 
fourth, making six in all. I was satisfied, for six fish 
is indeed a good catch for the winter angler. Many a 
time have I secured less. My pet set angled away in 
vain, though my faith in it was not disturbed in the 
least. I just knew it would win out if given time 
enough. I vowed I would not look at it, "just for 
luck," until we were ready to leave the ice. We talked 
and visited by the fire, speculating upon the coming 
open season, which was drawing nearer rapidly, dis- 
cussed the war and religion, the outdoor press, and 
ancient literature, with that catholicity of taste so 
characteristic of all anglers from Izaak Walton down. 
Ever and anon we would examine our sets, though my 
first was approached by neither. My friend secured 
another fish along toward four o'clock, and his pride 
and lordliness were greatly increased thereby. Strange, 
how a little bit of luck will set up some people. 

125 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

At four-thirty we decided to pull up and began tak- 
ing in our lines. One by one we folded them away, 
and at last I approached the first line set, remarking 
with an assumption of certainty which I was far from 
feeling, "Now I will show you a real great pike." I 
bent over the hole. The line was pulled off to one side 
and was stretched down taut as a fiddlestring. Even 
the thick branch to which the end of the line was 
fastened was bending with the strain. I took the line 
in my hand gingerly and pulled gently. A dead weight. 
I exerted more strength. Something down below was 
galvanized into sudden activity, and the line was pulled 
through my fingers. Glad was I that the line was 
new and strong, as well as securely tied to a green wil- 
low as thick through as my wrist. 

I have fought some worthy fish in my time both 
with fly-rod and casting-stick, and there have been 
times when I trembled for the integrity of my tackle; 
times when I found it hard to breathe from sheer ex- 
citement; but I must confess to the reader here that, 
for heart-rending anxiety and smothering excitement, 
those long moments out there on the glistening ice, 
clinging to that stinging, burning .chalk line, has them 
all beaten to a frazzle. The fish was well spent when 
I first undertook to lift the set. He might have been 
playing himself for three hours ; otherwise I am certain 
something would have parted. My companion danced 
around the hole, shouting advice and abjurations. To 
the first I paid no attention; to the second I mentally 
responded "Amen!" Fortunately there came an in- 
stant when the fish's nose was pointed into the hole. 
I pulled at the "psychological instant," and the great 
pike shot out upon the ice. Such a great pike ! Such a 

126 



ICE-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 

great pike! It weighed — figures will not suffice; I 
must write it out in words — just fifteen pounds and 
seven ounces. 

I stood for long minutes gazing down upon the 
monster, "lost in wonder and amaze," the largest 
great pike I had ever heard of being taken through 
the ice, and one of THE large fish of my fishing expe- 
rience. Large fish are always more a matter of luck 
than skill, though usually it is the veriest dub that 
secures the monster, where the expert catches min- 
nows. Suddenly I was brought back to earth by hear- 
ing my friend meanly remark: "Well, you needn't be 
so darn cocky about it. Other fellows undoubtedly 
have caught larger great pike." Of course, I do not 
believe that I was half as set up over my great good 
fortune as was he over a much smaller fish earlier in 
the day. Anyway, / had good reason for being elated. 

As we tramped along toward home, the big fish 
swinging from a pole carried on our shoulders, my 
companion broke a long silence with, "Say, O. W., 
what would you have done had this fish been too large 
to pull through the hole?" To the victor all things 
are possible, so I answered easily, "Oh, I would have 
drawn him out long!" 

My only excuse for appending the above narrative 
to this chapter is the one all-sufficient reason — "It is 
not all of fishing to fish." There are times when we 
must stop talking tackle and methods and just fish. 



127 



Chapter X 

Muskellunge and Artificial Lures 

"A long, slim, strong, and swift fish, in every way fitted to 
the life it leads, that of a dauntless marauder." 

N beginning a discussion of muskellunge fishing, 
let me say that I am well aware that I must step 
upon some angling brother's ichthyic corns before 
I have finished. However, I am not going out of my 
way to invite criticism or excite the anger of my 
compatriots of the rod and pen. I can but set down the 
result of my own experience. Indeed, if we were all 
agreed, there would be no need for the "Book of the 
Pike." Let me urge the reader to turn back to Chap- 
ters II and III and reread them carefully, especially 
Chapter III, for such a course will prepare him some- 
what for what I am about to say upon muskellunge 
fishing, whether with artificial lures or live bait. 

At the very outset let us disabuse our minds of the 
notion that a muskellunge is one whit more gamy 
than a great pike of the same size, in like environment 
and water. That an eight-pound muskellunge, say, is 
possessed of greater strength or more resourcefulness 
than an eight-pound great pike, is an angling super- 
stition pure and simple. I have tried out both under 
varying waters and conditions, and am ready to stand 
back of the assertion. I had as soon angle for great 
pike as muskellunge. Inch for inch and pound for 
pound, one is as gamy as the other. 

128 



MUSKELLUNGE AND ARTIFICIAL LURES 

In habits, unless the muskellunge is more inclined 
to solitude than the great pike, there is little differ- 
ence. In a state of nature, fortunately for the fish, 
pickerel and great pike spawn in March, while the 
muskellunge do not seek the overflowed marshes and 
shallow grassy streams until May. Hence the spawn of 
the muskellunge is exposed, not only to the ravages of 
young pickerel, but also to the avid appetite of mud- 
hens, ducks, turtles, frogs, etc. I think it is Dr. Hen- 
shall who asserts that comparatively few of the mus- 
kellunge fry survive. As we know that every pound 
of muskellunge represents several hundredweight of 
other fish, we can understand the economy of nature. 
However, when we add to natural enemies of mus- 
kellunge the ardent angler, we can well rejoice that 
at least two states have seriously taken up artificial 
propagation of the fish. I doubt the wisdom of plant- 
ing muskellunge and great pike in waters adapted to 
other game fish; for while bass and pike do coexist in 
the same waters at times, the indiscriminate planting 
of the former is to be frowned upon. 

I must confess that the weight of muskellunge, as 
given by Jordan and Evermann in "American Food 
and Game Fishes," "ioo pounds or more," appears to 
me almost fabulous. Even eighty pounds savors of 
the tales of Munchausen these days, whatever may 
have been the fish's weight in days long gone by. 
Mr. Tarlton Bean, in a report of the New York State 
Fish Commission, records the taking of fish ranging 
from forty to fifty pounds, but that was twenty years 
and more ago. At Minoqua, where the Wisconsin 
muskellunge hatchery is located, they have the record 
of one forty-pound fish, but that specimen, too, was 
9 129 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

taken something like fifteen or twenty years ago. 
Anyone who has followed the records as published in 
the Field and Stream contests can but conclude that a 
thirty-pound muskellunge may be considered as a 
large fish. The average angler who takes a twenty- 
pound muskellunge is to be congratulated. Now we 
are down where the average angler does his fishing. 
I am under the impression that a fish under ten pounds 
is more active than one over, allowing for individ- 
uality. Of course, added weight tests tackle, but mere 
avoirdupois is not gameness. A man of 214 pounds 
will not prove as good a sprinter as will one of 140, 
though the former will require a stronger hammock 
than the latter. Every angler desires to take a forty- 
pound muskellunge. I hope to have such an one 
mounted and hung above my fireplace. Once upon a 
time I took an eighteen-pound fish, and that was a 
red-letter day in my ichthyic experiences. Strange, is 
it not, the man who haunts a good muskellunge water 
a season through must be content with an eighteen- 
pound 'lunge, while a dry goods clerk from Chicago, 
who had hardly seen a rod and reel before coming to 
the lake, should take a forty-pounder the first morning? 
I have already discussed the three species of mus- 
kellunge, though I am not willing to give them specific 
rank, thinking them less than sub-species. (See 
Chapter III.) In order to refresh your minds, a brief 
recapitulation. There is, first of all, the Great Lakes 
fish and the St. Lawrence fish, body grayish-silver, the 
ground color flecked with irregular blackish spots 
(Esox masquinongy) ; followed by the fish of the Ohio 
drainage, including a few New York and Pennsyl- 
vania lakes, in which the ground color is overcast with 

130 



MUSKELLUNGE AND ARTIFICIAL LURES 

darker cross-bars which separate into diffuse spots 
(Esox ohiensis) ; the fish of the Wisconsin and Minne- 
sota lakes and rivers, with bodies unspotted or at most 
with indistinct dark cross-shades {Esox immaculatus). 
So, whether the angler fish in the muskellunge dis- 
tricts of Wisconsin and Minnesota, take fish from the 
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence, or must needs be con- 
tent with an Esox from the Ohio watershed, he is 
taking muskellunge, if the proper squamation appear 
upon cheek and gill-cover. Scientifically speaking, 
those fortunate anglers who dwell in the Badger or 
Gopher States have no real right to the airs they some- 
times assume. Hold that one fact of cheek and gill- 
cover scaling in mind, and let the colorists rave and 
quarrel among themselves. A man's connection with 
the aristocracy, nor yet his fighting ability, depends 
not upon whether or no dame Nature has embellished 
his cheeks with freckles. 

Undoubtedly, more muskellunge have been taken at 
the end of a hand-line trailed behind a boat than by 
any other method, which, however, is not saying that 
such is the best and most enjoyable way of taking 
them. Even when trolling, I always use and advocate 
a rod and reel. The hand-line on fresh water should 
be relegated to the museum cabinet, along with the 
spear and jack. Not that the hand-line is essentially 
unsportsmanlike, but because there is infinitely more 
pleasure in handling lures with the short rod and 
multiplying reel. Then, too, unless the tackle be 
handled with skill and circumspection, the quarry is 
bound to escape. I hold that the angler acquainted 
with the habits of muskellunge can take more fish 
with rod, reel, and artificial lures handled exactly as 

131 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

the tackle is handled in bass fishing. That he must 
be more than a novice with the outfit, is accepted with- 
out argument. The rodster must be able to cast ioo 
feet — 1 50 would be better — with accuracy, for the fish 
he seeks is exceedingly shy, as well as solitary in 
habits. 

It is not the part of wisdom to subject a light bass 
casting rod to the severe work required of muskellunge 
tackle. A heavy bass split-bamboo is all right in the 
hands of an understanding angler, while a high-grade 
Bristol steel is almost ideal. By no means use a cheap, 
therefore poorly constructed, steel rod for the work. 
I do not advocate an overly large line, such as is affected 
by some. One testing twenty-two pounds will play 
any muskellunge that ever lorded it over the smaller 
denizens of northern lakes and rivers, provided the 
angler possesses skill and understanding; if not, let 
him invest in a heavier line, if necessary up to the 
"forty-pound-test-muskellunge." Personally, I can 
see no need for the heavy lines in the hands of the man 
who is willing and able to play his fish to the point of 
the gaff. The reel should be one of the level-winding 
variety, sufficiently large to accommodate 200 feet of 
size G line. Some fishermen use the self-thumbing 
reel, claiming that by so doing they are able to give 
their whole attention to playing the fish. Well, as for 
me, I prefer to thumb my reel myself, and I believe 
that I make a better fist of the job than does any 
mechanism yet produced. However, I am not saying 
that the self-thumbers are not all their makers claim 
for them; they are, and perfectly all right for the man 
who likes them. (See discussion of this whole matter 
in the author's "Casting Tackle and Methods.") 

132 



MUSKELLUNGE AND ARTIFICIAL LURES 

However, as emphasized a moment ago, the level- 
winding attachment is a great aid> especially so since 
it can be secured so arranged that it drops down out 
of the way in casting, if the angler thinks the line- 
guide a hindrance. It is unnecessary to add that the 
reel for muskellunge fishing must be well made, of the 
very best material, for it may be called upon to endure 
such grief as falls to the lot of the salt-water winch 
only. 

Once upon a time I wrote a certain rod manufacturer 
— to be more specific I dare not for obvious reasons — 
asking him to forward me a good, well-made quad- 
ruple multiplying reel adapted to muskellunge angling. 
In return I received a letter stating that a quadruple 
was not adapted to the sport, and that he was sending 
a double multiplier, 200 yards capacity. I have that 
reel yet, a salt-water winch, and it will contain over 
300 yards of 23-pound test line. But that took place 
something like fifteen years or so ago, when I first 
began a serious study of the pike family and pike 
tackle. Undoubtedly that same manufacturer to-day 
would recommend an eighty-yard quadruple reel. 
The man who can not successfully fight a muskellunge 
with an eighty-yard reel has something to learn and 
something to experience. 

There is a great variety of artificial lures — "plugs" 
— running the whole gamut of form and color, built 
expressly for the muskellunge fisherman, and they are 
good lures, every one. My only criticism of the modern 
muskellunge lure is that it is far too heavy for easy 
or expert handling. Looking over my large but, I pre- 
sume, incomplete collection, I find many lures from 
seven to ten inches long, measuring from tip to tip. 

133 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

Those lures weigh all the way from one and one-half 
ounces for the lightest, to three ounces for the heaviest. 
I have yet to see the five-ounce split-bamboo rod ca- 
pable of standing up under the strain of casting a three- 
ounce lure. I would give the maximum casting weight 
of a lure as at one and one-half ounces, and that is 
heavy for easy casting. I had rather that a lure weighed 
an ounce, or a fraction either way. I am thinking of 
casting, the reader will understand. Undoubtedly 
there is a certain attractiveness to an eight- or ten-inch 
lure from the muskellunge's point of view, but I can 
handle the smaller lures so much more effectively as 
to offset the attractiveness of the larger "plug." I 
always think of my rods, for I love them. 

If the lure be extraordinarily well made, hooks 
hand forged, attached to a wire running through the 
body or to the hooks upon the other side — never to a 
simple screw driven into the soft wood of the body — 
there should be no danger of a break. I have had hooks 
fractured by the fierce onslaught of an overly large 
great pike or muskellunge, but always because the 
hooks were poorly made. My largest muskellunge 
was taken on an ordinary bass plug weighing consid- 
erably less than an ounce. The lure should always be 
provided with an eight- or ten-inch wire leader or 
gimp. Nothing but the best of wire should be used. 
Then let the fish "strike over," if he so desires. The 
rodster can smile. 

In muskellunge fishing — in all pike fishing, as for 
that — the angler must think of landing his quarry 
e'en before he makes the initial cast. Some wise one 
once averred, "It is too late to repent after the devil 
comes;" so it is too late to wish for a good gaff, re- 

134 



MUSKELLUNGE AND ARTIFICIAL LURES 

volver, or even Teddy Roosevelt's "big stick," when the 
fish lies exhausted alongside the boat. The relative 
importance of the three landing tools is indicated by 
their order. Personally, I always carry a .32 revolver 
in my pike-kit, for a pellet of lead placed between the 
evil eyes of a muskellunge has a very quieting effect. 
After such treatment the gaffing is easy, even un- 
necessary. To prick a fish before he is thoroughly 
exhausted, is to lose him nine times out of ten. Eschew 
all patent automatic grab-' em-quick gaffs. Whatever 
their value for other fish, for muskellunge they are 
worse than useless. I lost my first record fish through 
trying to grab him with one of those spring contriv- 
ances. 

As the muskellunge is a solitude-loving fish, some- 
what given to lording it over the smaller denizens of 
the marshy, weedy marges of deep water, it behooves 
the circumspect angler to court an intimate acquaint- 
anceship with any given water before he seriously sets 
to work with rod and reel. Granted that the first 
cast of a salad tyro, made at random on a new water, 
may result in a fish (we have all known of its happen- 
ing), yet it proves nothing. Lightning may strike the 
very tree beneath whose friendly branches we take 
refuge from a sudden thundershower. Surely I need 
not urge my readers to believe with me that there is 
something more than luck and chance in successful 
angling. The muskellunge is not a wide roamer so 
long as he can find sufficient food to fill his capacious 
maw. He has his lair and favorite hunting ground, as 
much as any ravenous beast of the forest primeval. 
The wise fisherman acquaints himself with first-hand 
information. I actually think that an expert handler 

135 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

of artificial lures would catch more fish on a three- 
day muskellunge trip, if he would spend the first two 
studying the water to be cast over without even wetting 
a line. Perhaps that is an exaggeration; however, this 
is the point I would emphasize: In raising fish, a knowl- 
edge of the water is more important than good tackle. 
Good tackle is an accessory after the fact. A fine rod, 
expensive reel, and finished lure are impotent unless the 
handler knows the habits of the muskellunge and is 
comparatively well acquainted with the water to be 
fished. 

I had a fishing acquaintance with a muskellunge of 
Eagle Lake, Wisconsin, some summers ago, and 
though he rose to my lures and live bait a number of 
times, and I hooked him once, always he escaped. 
Wise old Gray-sides! The careless handling of a 
paddle, the scraping of a boot upon the floor of the 
boat, even a flash from the reel was sufficient to awaken 
his suspicions. Frightened, he never stampeded, as 
does the trout ; rather, faded away. That is an apt de- 
scription. More than once I saw him lying near the 
surface, inert, motionless; then, presto, without move- 
ment or motion apparently, he was gone. But a bask- 
ing — "sleeping" — muskellunge seldom if ever strikes. 
Well do I remember old "Gray-sides' " lair — the top 
of an upturned tree, reaching out from the shore to 
the very edge of deep water. The shore itself was 
bordered with a mat of lily leaves, thick and impen- 
etrable. Just off the lily bed, the water suddenly 
deepened to twenty or thirty feet. Any muskellunge 
fisherman will recognize it at once for an ideal "muskie 
hole." Ah, "Gray-sides" was heavy, wise, and old — 
too old and wise and heavy for me. 

136 



MUSKELLUNGE AND ARTIFICIAL LURES 

Acquainted with the water, possessed of a knowl- 
edge of the habits of the fish, the muskellunge angler 
should be afloat with the first hint or sign of light in 
the morning. He should hold to the deep water, cast- 
ing shoreward, lairward. The ability to lay a long line 
and throw an accurate lure is tantamount to spelling 
the word "strike." I think the reader will under- 
stand me when. I say that to be able to handle 150 
feet of line is more than 50 feet in excess of 100. In 
fact, every foot of controlled line beyond 100 has all 
the value of two feet below the century. But note, I 
am always talking of controlled line. To be able to 
get out 1 50 feet of line, without being able to place 
the lure in the proper spot, is without value. Always 
cast from deep water to lair — obstruction and weed- 
bed — . Then, if a fish is hooked, the angler is in a posi- 
tion to coax his capture away from menacing obstruc- 
tion out into clear fighting water. Furthermore, better 
casts can be made from the vantage ground of open 
lake or river. I have found the hours from earliest 
light to six or seven o'clock the most successful in 
fair weather. While August is not the best month of 
the year by any means for muskellunge fishing, still 
even August may be made to yield a goodly fish or two, 
if the angler is abroad by three o'clock of a hot morning. 

Next in importance to the morning hours are those 
from six o'clock — evening — on to dark, sometimes be- 
yond. One of my largest fish was taken from a lake 
out from State Line, Wisconsin, just at dusk the last 
of August. That fish was captured from the shore. 
We had been casting around the lake from a boat, 
and though we had worked from six o'clock on, not a 
single muskellunge had come to our lures. Running 

137 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

inshore preparatory to going into camp, I said to my 
companion: "Now I am going to send this plug out 
into the darkness once, just for luck." "Look out," 
he rejoined, "or you will hook a log. There is one out 
there; I saw it when first we made camp." But I cast 
my surface lure and began slowly to reel. It was one 
of those wise plugs that submerge when drawn through 
the water. Instantly there came a shock, a sudden 
stopping of all movement. "Hit your log, all right!" 
I exclaimed. What my companion said I will not re- 
peat, for he thought it was going to be up to him to 
take the boat and go out and feel around in the dark- 
ness for the hooked lure. Then the log came to sudden 
life, and things were doing there on the shores of that 
darksome lake. For twenty minutes I — we, for my 
companion was an able second — played that fish and 
landed him. At camp he weighed slightly over nine 
pounds. While I was handling the rod, I would have 
sworn to almost any weight above twenty pounds. 
Had he escaped, what a marvelous story I would still 
be telling of "the big one that got away!" Probably 
by this time he would have weighed somewhere in the 
neighborhood of forty pounds. 

Perhaps the reader noticed in one of the foregoing 
paragraphs I was careful to emphasize the fact that 
the early morning is the best time for casting artifi- 
cial lures if fair weather. Now the emphasis is on the 
word fair. In foul weather there is no necessity for 
early rising. A windy day, whitecaps rolling, raveled 
remnants of storm clouds scudding across the sky, 
shutting out the sun — under such conditions, fish all 
day long. Very good for trolling. In midsummer now 
and then occurs a variety of day which well might be 

138 




A 44-POUND MUSKELLUNGE CAUGHT FROM 
LAKE LE BOEUF 



Courtesy Outdoor Life." 



MUSKELLUNGE AND ARTIFICIAL LURES 

characterized as "pike day." I refer now to those 
mean, mizzling portentous days when the swine make 
shift at building nests and the barometer seeks the 
bottom of the glass. With the barometric conditions 
just right — which are all wrong — I have found the 
hours from eight to eleven the most successful for the 
muskellunge fisherman. A man may spend a whole 
month on a pike lake and never find just those condi- 
tions ; but should he, he is elected to spend a few hours 
in an ichthyic paradise. 

Several years ago I was spending three days on a 
locally famous lake in North Minnesota, more bent 
upon securing photographs and certain habit data than 
fish. But upon arising one morning I discovered that 
all nature shouted aloud of an oncoming atmospheric 
disturbance of some sort. Parenthetically: I have 
always been peculiarly susceptible to atmospheric in- 
fluences. Often a very devil of unrest seems to possess 
me before the breaking of a midsummer thunderstorm. 
The more fearsome the tempest, the greater the fore- 
warning physical disturbance. On the morning in 
question I left the camera in the tent, and alone with 
rod, reel, and case of under-water lures, set out upon 
the lake. We have it on no less authority than 
Kipling that at times trout are "jumping crazy for 
the fly." Be that as it may as regards trout, for two 
hours the muskellunge of that lake had lost all their 
shyness and moroseness. They were literally wild to 
take my lures. While as a rule the fish run small — 
under two feet — I took four good ones, one of which 
weighed thirteen pounds. Let him explain it who can, 
I only know that the hours preceding a summer 
thunderstorm are good hours, liable to be "high 

139 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

hours." Perhaps I should add that those hours of 
humidity upon the day in question were followed by 
one of the most terrific hail and wind storms it has 
ever been my misfortune to be exposed to. I stayed 
upon the water so long — as any true angler would have 
done under the circumstances — that I was just barely 
able to get on shore and under my inverted boat 
before the storm broke. 

While midsummer is not the most successful time 
of the year by any means for muskellunge fishing, still 
the wise caster of lures can secure a few good fish if 
he knows how to handle tackle and is familiar with 
the habits of his game. Should he be so fortunate as 
to have the weather gods present him with a "weather- 
breeder," when the atmosphere is hot, close, and hu- 
mid, with a misty haze veiling the sun, let him fare 
forth with rejoicing; for he should have a wonderful 
experience, and, if he be a taker of fish, make a record 
catch. 

In this chapter I have said little of the modus oper- 
andi of lure handling and have listed no "best lures." 
The former is unnecessary, for I take it for granted 
that the reader is familiar with the author's "Casting 
Tackle and Methods," while the latter is out of my 
province. Any bait caster should know how to handle 
his lures before he goes in search of muskellunge. I 
have tried to get the reader to realize two things: 
first, that he must know his water; and secondly, that 
he must know the habits of the muskellunge, its likes, 
and lurking places. As was pointed out in the opening 
paragraphs of this chapter, the particular type of lure 
is not so important so long as it is well made and strong. 
The color of the lure will depend largely upon the par- 

140 



MUSKELLUNGE AND ARTIFICIAL LURES 

ticular water to be fished. I am acquainted with one 
lake where the yellow or perch-colored lure is the one 
to use. On a certain river I always use, because most 
taking, a green "Chippewa" under- water. Also, there 
are days when the caster will find the red and white in 
combination very taking. At present I would confine 
myself to those three colors — yellow, green, and red- 
and-white; that is, if going light. Though I had much 
rather have with me as wide and varied a selection of 
makes and colors as tackle-case and pocketbook would 
allow. Always I would carry duplicates of known at- 
tractive muskellunge lures in case of accident. Mus- 
kellunge are fish with which accidents to tackle, 
especially lures, are apt to happen. It is very annoy- 
ing, to employ a mild term, to have a single lure prove 
very attractive, and then lose it. 



141 



Chapter XI 

Muskellunge and Live Bait 

"The best bait is a minnow, either alive or dead, though a 
frog answers very well. . . . Rowing along in water from 
five to ten feet deep, the bait should be cast as far as possible 
to the edge of weed patches, reeling it again very slowly; or, if 
the bait is alive, it may be allowed to swim outside of the water 
plants for a short time." — Dr. James A. Henshall. 

IT IS not my purpose here to argue for the legit- 
imacy of live-bait fishing; the method needs no 
defense. There are days and days when the best, 
almost the only successful lure for muskellunge is a 
small sucker, shiner minnow, or green frog. The 
angler who refuses to employ live bait may be com- 
pelled to depart from the fishing grounds without his 
"wasser-wolf," and, while the modern angler does not 
fish for fish, he is human, and likes to take home with 
him ocular proof that he has been fishing. More rep- 
rehensible than taking fish with live bait is the final 
resort of some — fishing in the resort keeper's live-box 
with a "silver hook." 

Probably no fresh-water fish are more addicted to 
a piscivorous diet than are the members of the Esox 
family. A large mouth, strong jaws, armed with a 
terrible array of long, sharp, conical teeth of various 
sizes, indicates that anything that walks, hops, flies, 
or swims will be accepted as food. That the muskel- 
lunge is one whit more predacious than pike of equal 
size is untrue; or that a six-inch chub or sucker will be 

142 



MUSKELLUNGE AND LIVE BAIT 

more eagerly snapped up by the former than the latter, 
is also an error. However, in my experience at least, 
I have found live bait more successful with 'lunge 
than with great pike, probably because I more often 
employ it with the former than the latter. I think 
that a large muskellunge is more shy and wary than 
a great pike of equal size. It is easier to allay the 
suspicions of a wary fish with a natural bait than 
with an artificial lure, provided always that the 
angler knows how to handle live bait. Always, I 
think, muskellunge fishermen should resort to live 
minnows when fishing waters where muskellunge have 
become abnormally suspicious and wary. Then, too, 
there are days even on a comparatively wild lake 
when minnows are more attractive than any "plug," 
spoon, or pork rind. 

I am not altogether sure that there is any great 
merit in a ten-inch fishlet, though I know a number 
of good 'lunge fishermen who have a very decided 
prejudice for that size sucker. I have experimented 
carefully for more than fifteen years, and must confess 
to a firm conviction that whatever advantage the ten- 
inch sucker has over a six-inch chub is more than 
offset by the difficulty in handling. I know of no 
seven-ounce wood rod that will stand up under the 
strain of casting a ten-inch sucker, and I am very 
certain that I would not want to subject my "De 
Luxe Bristol" to the abuse. When it comes to still- 
fishing — well, that is, of course, a different matter .* 
One could use a ten-inch fish for bait, provided he 
did not cast. There is no enjoyment nor sport in 
casting a young fish. If one must cast with so large 

*See Appendix II. 

143 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

a live minnow, then let him use sea tackle, and be 
done with it. 

For casting average-sized minnows and frogs, I use 
and recommend the regulation split-bamboo and steel 
rods, than which nothing can well be better. The 
tendency these days is toward lighter tackle in every 
department of angling. When salt-water fishermen 
essay the capture of denizens of the deep with cotton 
thread, it behooves the fresh-water angler to reduce 
the caliber of his line and the weight of his rod. Do 
not fasten to the hook a minnow so large that the rod 
will be jeopardized. A six-inch minnow in the proper 
spot from a distance with utmost finesse is going to 
bring results more often than the noisy "plop" of a 
large bait. All my experience has gone to prove that 
"distance lends enchantment," in 'lunge fishing as 
well as in some other things. It is well for the angler 
to remember that muskellunge are not in the habit 
of having their fish food come sailing to them through 
the air. In casting for 'lunge the ideal toward which 
the successful angler strives is lack of commotion, 
silence, naturalness. 

I presume that every fisherman has his favorite 
bend of hook. I know that I have, and have had, any 
amount of fun poked at me by anglers who have a 
fancy for other makes. My hook of hooks is the 
square bend or "Sneck," as it is named in the cata- 
logues. The hook should be quite large, 5-0 or 6-0, 
and provided with an eight-inch wire leader or gimp. 
It is unnecessary to add that the hook must be well 
made, hand forged, and "built on honor." A poor 
hook is always a poor investment. Sometimes a two- 
hook frog or minnow gang is used, which holds the 

144 



MUSKELLUNGE AND LIVE BAIT 

minnow in position; but I like to fasten the minnow 
to the hook with a few turns of copper wire. Un- 
doubtedly, the double hook, a hook to hold the head in 
position, is an aid. It will be objected that such a rig 
kills the bait. To which I would say that a minnow 
will not outlive a half-dozen ioo-foot casts, anyway. 
Be sure the minnow is wired to the hook, if you are 
not well supplied with bait. Where the head is held 
by one hook and the trailer pierces the rear of the 
minnow, short-biting fish are apt to be hooked. 

In hooking a minnow for casting, where a gang is 
not used, the hook should be inserted in the mouth, 
out through the gills, and back through the body. 
Quite often when so hooked, the minnow slips down 
and whirls when drawn through the water, and unless 
the swivel above the leader works easily, the line will 
twist and kink. The gang arrangement is more satis- 
factory, for, by hooking through the head with one 
hook and through the body with the other, the minnow 
is held in shape as long as it lasts. No caster need be 
told that under the stress of continuous casting a 
minnow will not last long. A simple hook through the 
head may tear out at the first cast. Of course, the 
fisherman soon learns to favor his bait in casting, 
starting carefully and slowing up easily. 

A minnow quietly dropped at the edge of a weed- 
bed from a distance of ioo or 150 feet is almost cer- 
tain to stir a 'lunge to attack if he be in a feeding 
mood. Few men can cast a live minnow with grace 
and precision these days, for correct minnow-casting 
is all but a lost art among us. I have before stated, 
and I wish to re-emphasize it here, there are fewer 
good casters of live minnows to-day than of lures. 
10 145 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

When 'lunge are feeding, however, there is nothing 
quite so "taking" as a minnow dropped at the edge of 
a weed-bed close up against the outreaching branches 
of a down tree, or near marsh grass growing shoulder- 
high in the water. Just why the plant Pontederia 
cordata was named "pickerel weed" I do not know; 
but I have discovered that a luxuriant bed of it in 
muskellunge water is a good place for the minnow- 
caster to let fall his bait. It is possible, once the knack 
is acquired, to slip the bait into the water with next to 
no commotion. Do not "slam" the lure down, as is 
the way of the caster of artificial lures, but, as it were, 
"ease" it into the water. Stop the reel gradually, not 
with a sudden, sharp pressure. There is more to the 
proper handling of bait than some casters realize. 

After an angler has -fished for muskellunge for a 
few seasons he will come to feel, to know by instinct, 
as it were, just where to cast. To the uninitiated 
this may seem to savor of potash, but it is a veritable 
fact nevertheless. I used to believe that this phe- 
nomenon could be explained in the realm of psy- 
chology, but now I believe otherwise. After casting 
four or five times into pockets, or at the edge of weed- 
beds exactly alike in appearance though distant from 
each other by many miles, and always being rewarded 
by strikes, a man will come to believe that muskellunge 
prefer to lie in certain places. A 'lunge lair is a 'lunge 
lair, and experienced anglers know them instantly. 
This is not saying that fish may not be found else- 
where, semi-occasionally almost anywhere, but the 
chances are that four times out of five a "muskie 
hole" will conceal a muskellunge. Casting at random 
with lure or live bait is not the method of the fish- 

146 



MUSKELLUNGE AND LIVE BAIT 

wise angler. Random casting will get you about as far 
in 'lunge fishing as random work will get you anywhere. 

I remember a small lake in Minnesota, the home of 
what some of my friends call the "real muskellunge," 
or Esox immaculatus, the spotless form, where I had 
good fishing two springs and falls. At the upper end 
of the lake near the inlet, a log laid, with one end upon 
the shore and the other well out in the water. Wind 
and current had mined a deep hole under and behind 
the log. Youthful then in muskellunge lore, but other- 
wise somewhat ichthyic-wise, I "felt" it was a good 
place for a fish. My minnow landed just at the side 
of the log, there was a splash and boil, and I was fast 
in the log. Simply the fish had dashed around the log 
after seizing the hook, and so had hooked me solidly. 
I kept away from the spot until late evening, then 
got my fish. Three days later I took a second fish, 
though palpably smaller, from the same spot. Visit- 
ing the lake in the fall of the same year, I secured 
another muskellunge. During the two years I took 
no less than seven fish from beneath that log. It was the 
throne-room of all the muskellunge of the water, a 
throne-room held always by the largest fish taken by 
me. I there learned my first lesson, viz., there are 
certain spots which are natural 'lunge lairs. 

The bait fisher— any variety of muskellunge fisher, 
in fact — will find the middle of the summer com- 
paratively unremunerative. The "wasser-wolf" is not 
a lover of hot weather. While fish are taken in July 
and August, one cannot be sure of a bag, resort keepers 
to the contrary notwithstanding. Better far wait for 
the cooling days of autumn. In midsummer 'lunge 
are morose, surly, and lethargic, lying for hours upon 

147 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

the surface basking in the rays of the hot sun, or, as 
the guides say, "sleeping." When muskellunge are 
found lying upon the surface, there is little use in 
casting lures or dangling live baits of any variety. 

Undoubtedly this midsummer habit of the fish has 
given rise to the "sore-teeth" story. Among anglers 
we find the belief quite prevalent that muskellunge 
either shed their teeth or are afflicted with some dis- 
ease of the gums along about "dog days," which ren- 
ders it next to impossible for the fish to take food. In 
different localities the superstition, if superstition it is, 
takes different forms. Sometimes one hears that the 
fish are found toothless, and again, that every tooth 
in the jaws is loose. Personally, I have yet to take a 
'lunge with loose teeth, in any way needing a dentist. 
However, I did take one great pike with loose teeth 
in front. I have been unable to gain any information 
upon the topic from the Fish Commissions, the reply 
invariably being that, "We know nothing about 'sore 
teeth' in muskellunge." It would seem natural, would 
it not, that those engaged in the propagation of the 
fish would be able to throw some light upon the matter? 
I doubt very much if it would make any difference to 
the rank and file of fishermen should the fish savants 
come out with a statement that the "sore-teeth" 
belief is a superstition, a myth. One of the strongest 
arguments offered for the theory is, "The Indians be- 
lieve it." Surely that is enough to curb the agnostic! 
Personally, I regard the matter with suspicion; I am 
an agnostic. I have never found a muskellunge or 
pike in need of a dentist's services. Still, I hope I am 
open to conviction. 

Every angler at all ichthyic-wise knows that the 
148 



MUSKELLUNGE AND LIVE BAIT 

teeth of a fish, even such a voracious fish as the mus- 
kellunge, plays a minor part in the securing of food. 
The only use to which they are put is the seizing and 
holding of prey; for mastication is something that a 
fish does not need to worry about. Nature has so 
provided that an accident to a few teeth is quickly 
repaired. Indeed, it is exceedingly doubtful if a wound 
in the jaw causes a 'lunge much, if any, trouble. More 
than a few times I have taken various members of the 
pike family with cruelly lacerated jaws and torn 
mouths, wounds that, from a human viewpoint, should 
have placed them hors de combat, and yet they were as 
voracious — sometimes with stomachs distended with 
recent captures — as perfectly normal fish. Fact of 
the matter is, it is extremely difficult to study fish; to 
know all about them. Our beliefs are largely theories. 
My own belief is that the fish are half dormant dur- 
ing the heated term, a condition brought about by 
the warming water, rather than by any dental trouble ; 
for when hot weather extends into September the fish 
remain as dormant, as inactive, as in August. As soon, 
however, as the weather cools off and the temperature 
begins to fall, the fish take on a new lease of life, 
assume a new interest in food. By October, when the 
leaves are painted gold and brown and there is a zest 
in the air, we find the muskellunge a different creature, 
eager and combative. Even the early days of No- 
vember are wont to yield good 'lunge fishing, if the 
winter be not too early. Of the two portions of the 
year, spring and autumn, I would say by all means 
select autumn for a muskellunge trip. Even if autumn 
did not afford better fishing, because of its wonderful 
zestful days, it is the time to visit the North Country. 

149 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

When I first took up the matter of bait fishing for 
muskellunge, I promised to say something upon still 
fishing before I finished the chapter. Probably few 
anglers turn to still-fishing these days, for casting is 
more American; consequently when live minnows are 
resorted to they are employed exactly as are lures. 
I wish to say that there is a place for still-fishing with 
live bait in the muskellunge angler's scheme of things. 
Still-fishing is a sort of contemplative man's recrea- 
tion. I think that if Izaak Walton lived to-day and 
fished for 'lunge, he would often resort to live bait as 
an adjunct to the still fisher's outfit. 

I would not vary the tackle one iota unless it were 
to employ a slightly longer rod, like the six-foot six- 
inch "Henshall pattern," for instance; a longer rod 
than the 6^-foot will prove too long for the work 
required of it. The ordinary caster can be used felic- 
itously, however. As I think I pointed out when 
writing upon live bait, a larger minnow can be used 
for still-fishing, even a ten-inch sucker upon occasion. 
There are ways and ways of attaching the minnow to 
the hook. The only thing the fisherman should re- 
member is that the minnow must be kept alive as 
long as possible, and the hook fixed in such a manner 
as to reach the striking fish. Some anglers employ a 
large hook and thrust it through the body midway 
between the head and tail and just below the back- 
bone. There are two reasons why I do not advise the 
method: The hook is in the very worst position for 
a rear-striking fish like the pike, and the minnow soon 
dies. To hook the minnow through the head, inserting 
the hook in the mouth and thrusting up through the 
top of the head, soon causes the death of the minnow, 

150 



MUSKELLUNGE AND LIVE BAIT 

and a slow-biting fish is sure to cut off the bait just 
back of the head and therefore is not impaled. When 
the head hook is used there should be an auxiliary 
hook trailing beneath the body or wired to it, in order 
that a slow-biting fish may be securely hooked. 

Personally, I prefer to hook my live bait through the 
cartilage of the lips only, having a trailing treble 
attached to the shank and wired to the body of the 
minnow just in front of the anal fin. There are minnow 
harnesses upon the market, but I prefer a simple 
wrapping of fine copper wire. So attached and handled 
carefully, a minnow, such as the creek chub or sucker, 
will live for some time. Swimming about in the water, 
they appear perfectly natural, even to an unusually 
well-educated muskellunge, a post-graduate of the 
school of the waters. 

The methods of the still fisher are like and unlike 
those of the bait caster. While success will come to 
the man who remains at one spot fishing carefully — 
provided, of course, he knows a "muskellunge lair" — 
he runs a better chance of securing a fish by cruising 
slowly along, pausing for long minutes from time to 
time to let his live fishlet "fish out" some likely ap- 
pearing spot. Naturally, quietness and stealth are 
important requisites. Therefore the angler should be 
able to handle his boat with skill or be accompanied 
by an expert boatman, one able to handle a paddle 
and keep his mouth shut. I know that talking can- 
not disturb a 'lunge, that the sound of conversation is 
not communicable to water, but I do not want any 
talking when I am still-fishing — for muskellunge, least 
of all. 

The user of live bait must care for his minnows or 
151 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

they will soon cease to be live bait. A dozen minnows 
should be sufficient for a morning's fishing, and would 
not overcrowd the average bucket. Let the bucket 
be of the largest size possible, the double kind, with 
inner bucket of wire provided with an air chamber in 
the top, so that it can be placed in the water without 
danger of sinking. It is exceedingly difficult to keep 
minnows alive if the weather be at all warm, and an 
occasional immersion in the water is a healthful thing; 
at the same time the water in the bucket can be changed. 
In exceedingly hot weather a chunk of ice in the upper 
chamber is a good thing, though the average minnow 
pail is not built with sufficient room for a very large 
piece of ice. 

When the angler has located good water, water 
known to contain fish, and with environment right, 
he can arrange his line with a float and sit down to 
invoke his soul. Say the water is twenty feet deep, 
the float will be attached to the line eighteen or nineteen 
feet from the hook. The bait then will swim just free 
of the bottom. The bait should be a large-sized 
minnow, preferably a sucker, just above which suffi- 
cient lead is fastened to the line to keep the bait down. 
The float can be anything, from a plain chip of light 
wood, sufficiently large to hold up the bait, to an 
enameled cork. I much prefer the latter, and I want it 
painted some bright color, so that I can see it through 
half-closed eyes. The cast should always be with the 
wind, so that the float will tug away from the boat. 
It is a simple way of fishing, but highly enjoyable for 
that very reason. Too much strenuosity in the fishing 
game these days. 

In fishing along the edges of weed-beds or close in- 
152 



MUSKELLUNGE AND LIVE BAIT 

shore where marsh grass grows out into the water, 
while the ideal position for the boat apparently is in 
the weeds, that is where the muskellunge lie, and 
should the angler hook a fish he would be in the worst 
position possible to play his capture. Members of the 
pike family know instinctively that a weed-bed offers 
a safe refuge, or perhaps they are in the habit of rush- 
ing to such spots to swallow their game; at any rate, 
the instant a minnow is swallowed the fish starts for 
a weed-bed if one be within reach. Consequently, I 
advise the angler to fish from outside — from the water 
side, allowing the minnow to swim toward the weeds 
or other shelter. If one work along with exceeding 
care he will not make any great disturbance; at least 
not enough to frighten the ordinary 'lunge. Let me 
again reiterate what I have said often: The angler 
should act as though every muskellunge could hear a 
whisper and see the flash of a rod from the distance 
of half a mile. "Absurd!" Perhaps, but the man 
who makes no noise, all else being equal, is the man who 
takes the fish. 

I remember a little lake, or rather the arm of a large 
lake, out south from Manitowish, Wisconsin, in which 
ten years ago one could find muskellunge of length 
and avoirdupois. Those days the anglers fished the 
large lake, saying that the smaller one did not possess 
sufficient depth nor area to attract the werewolf of 
northern waters. I had discovered differently, but, 
angler-like, I kept my discovery to myself. My fish- 
ing was done, for the most part, in the two orthodox 
vacation months, July and August, because my vaca- 
tion, like so many, always happened in dog days. 
I think I am safe in saying that I found live minnows 

153 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

more attractive than any artificial lure, with the ex- 
ception perhaps of a trolling spoon, a matter which 
will be discussed in the following chapter. Certainly 
I did not find even a spoon, though trolled 200 feet 
behind my boat, successful when 'lunge were "sleep- 
ing" upon the surface. I fished early in the morning 
and again late at night, before storms and when a 
breeze roughened the surface of the water. But to 
return to my yarn. 

One evening I pushed out upon the lake just as the 
sun was going down into a mass of upheaped thunder- 
heads, indicating that a change of weather was near. 
(Strange how a man's mind retains such impressions. 
I have only to shut my eyes now to see the crimson 
sky above the cathedral spruce which marged the lake 
to the west.) Up near the head of the little body of 
water a great bed of spatter-dock reached out from the 
shore, the home of yellow perch and various sunfish. 
Attaching a six-inch perch to my hook — an unusual 
bait with me, by the way, but because of the preva- 
lence of that fish in the water I thought it wise to 
use one — and allowing my boat to float, I slipped the 
minnow into the water. A slight breeze ruffled the 
surface, slowly driving my boat from west to east. 
My perch bait started for the weeds, and I let it go. 
When within some two or three rods of its haven, all 
motion ceased. I waited a moment, then thinking 
that perhaps it had fouled on some snag, I straightened 
the rod. The hook was fast. "Hooked to a root, by 
Jonah!" I snorted in disgust. Every live-bait fisher- 
man knows how a minnow delights to wind the line 
about a sunken branch or the strong root of some 
water plant. 

154 



MUSKELLUNGE AND LIVE BAIT 

I sat for two or three minutes wondering what I 
had best do, for I did not want to disturb the water 
by trying to dislodge the minnow. I was just on the 
point of sacrificing a portion of my line, hook and all, 
when I noticed that the line was moving. Thinking 
that perhaps the minnow had released itself, I picked 
up the rod and began to reel. Imagine my astonish- 
ment, if you can, when I discovered I was fast in a good 
fish. Actually, the muskellunge had swallowed the 
perch and "gone to sleep." "Why?" Oh, I don't 
know; one of the vagaries of angling which makes the 
game so interesting. I played that fish full twenty 
minutes and had him up to the side of the boat a 
number of times, and when I reached for my revolver 
the last time, thinking him exhausted, a loop of the 
line fell over the handle of the reel. Came a convulsive 
flop, the line parted, and my fish — mine no longer — 
was free. I think he was the heaviest fish of the 
season, but please remember, he got away. 



155 



Chapter XII 

Trolling for Muskellunge 

"I know of old anglers who have experienced better things, 
who make long excursions in pursuit of Mascalonge, who will 
sit on a cushioned seat with a cushioned back in the stern of 
the boat, and suffer themselves to be pulled about all day, with 
a trolling-rod extended from each side." — Thaddeus Nor r is, 1864. 

TO-DAY the most expert muskellunge fishermen, 
those who derive the most pleasure from the 
pursuit of the "wasser-wolf," do not resort to 
the long rods to which that early angling writer, quoted 
at the head of the chapter, refers; neither do they em- 
ploy the heavy hand-line so much affected a quarter 
of a century ago. The day of the short rod and mul- 
tiplying reel even for muskellunge trolling has arrived. 
It is not unusual to see a fisherman with a cane pole 
sticking out over the stern of his boat, to which a 
line of equal length with the pole is attached, rowing 
slowly around the edge of the lake. However, either 
he is one of those seldom individuals who hold all 
modern angling methods in contempt, or he has not 
yet arrived at the more satisfactory, scientific, and 
successful method of trolling. As to the old-fashioned 
hand-line, one will not see it in use on fresh water 
these days, unless in backwoods districts by the natives. 
The advantages of the long line and reel have al- 
ready been set forth in the chapter on trolling for great 
pike, and need not be repeated here to any extent. 
The farther away from a boat the spoon travels, the 

156 



TROLLING FOR MUSKELLUNGE 

more likely it is to attract a fish; that is too obvious 
to need remark. A trolling-spoon traveling 150 feet 
behind the boat will capture five fish to every one 
taken on a lure whirling twenty-five feet beyond the 
disturbing oars. I know whereof I speak. The limit 
of distance obtainable with a cane pole unprovided 
with a reel would be, I should judge, about twenty- 
five feet. With an 80- or 1 00-yard reel, the fisherman 
can handle 200 feet of line with ease, character of the 
water permitting. With the ancient heavily weighted 
hand-line, which was whirled about the fisherman's 
head to gain sufficient momentum, a muscular man 
could cast perhaps fifty feet. But think of the labor 
involved, as well as incontinently dragging in a royal 
fighter. Does it not appeal to the reader as somehow 
unfair? Oh yes, the hand-liner may cut his fingers 
on the line, may even fall out of the boat — that is 
easy when learning how to swing the weighted line 
about the head, a somewhat difficult task — but after 
all, his method is not attractive to the lover of rod 
and reel. 

I once had a friend, a gray-haired hand-liner, who 
has long since gone to the reward of all good fishermen, 
who had a rather amusing experience. We were on a 
short driving trip, looking for blackberries in a trout 
and muskellunge country. I leave my readers to guess 
why my ancient friend led a blackberrying party into 
a good fishing country. One night we went into camp 
on the shores of a beautiful little lake which, my friend 
confided to me on the side, was "jest full of muskie." 
After camp was made and everybody settled for the 
night, he and I set out on a hunt for some sort of craft. 
At last we found an ancient, rotten, leaky Indian 

157 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

dugout, a canoe the red men had long since abandoned. 
The boat was not large enough for two nor safe enough 
for one; but my friend was 'lunge hungry, and nothing 
would do but that he put out in quest of fighting 
gray-sides. Seated on a stump, I watched him depart 
with some misgivings. Before he had paddled twenty 
rods (his paddle was a bit of board rudely fashioned 
with the camp ax) he was compelled to stop and bail 
out with his hat. Yet he stuck to his task, paddling 
up and down along the shore, holding his heavy troll- 
ing line — chalk line — between his teeth. 

Perhaps half an hour had passed, and I was just on 
the point of turning away, the old man eight or ten 
rods off shore opposite me, when his head was -jerked 
around until it seemed to me that it would be twisted 
off. Dropping his paddle, he grabbed the line with 
both hands, quickly winding it about his right wrist. 
How that fish lunged and plunged, darting to left and 
right, the old man pulling in line hand over hand the 
while. I shouted encouragement and cheer from the 
shore, noting the rapid settling of the decrepit boat 
with alarm. Still the old man fought on, taking in line 
whenever he could and paying out grudgingly when he 
must, paying not the slightest attention to his craft. 

Came a moment when I could contain myself no 
longer, and I shouted, "Hey, Dad, look out; she's 
going down by the stern!" 

Came the instant answer, "Let 'er go! Gol dern ye, 
don't ye 'spose I ken swim?" 

Untwisting the line from his wrist, the old man 
slipped it between his teeth once more, just as the boat 
quietly settled beneath the surface. Boldly and bravely 
the old fellow, whose heart was young and strong, set 

158 



TROLLING FOR MUSKELLUNGE 

out for the shore, fortunately only a few rods distant. 
That I watched his progress with apprehension is 
true, for he was many years young. Looking back 
across the years, I can see that brave old gray head 
bobbing up and down as it made slow progress shore- 
ward, and it was with utmost relief that I at last saw 
him stand upright, feet upon the hard bottom. Stand- 
ing in breast-deep water, he played his capture to 
exhaustion, then dragged it to land, where I was given 
the high privilege of striking the quieting blow. How 
large the fish was I do not remember, for in those days 
I kept no notes and carried neither scales nor tape; 
but it was large enough to supply a noble feed for a 
large crowd of hungry blackberry pickers. 

I must pause a moment longer, long enough to pay 
a word of tribute to the memory of my old friend. 
When I knew him, he was well down on the western 
slope of the divide, bathed in the mellow sunlight of 
his departing day. He had no use for "new-fangled 
notions and fishing contraptions," but he was a true, 
fair-play-loving sportsman from the crown of his 
silvery hair to the soles of his life-weary feet. Never 
would he take a mean advantage of any fish. One rod 
or line was all that you could get him to employ, and 
he would not even ground-bait for carp! Here is to 
you, gentle guide of my early manhood. May the 
fishing "over there" be as satisfying as that which 
you enjoyed here, and may I have the pleasure of 
angling with you in the sweet bye and bye. 

There is no need for a lengthy discussion of the rod 
and reel adapted to muskellunge trolling, for the reel 
and rod recommended for great pike trolling is the 
one to employ. As I have pointed out time and 

159 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

again, the 'lunge is no more gamy and tackle-testing 
than the great pike, inch for inch and pound for pound, 
popular notions to the contrary notwithstanding. If 
the angler desires a slightly longer rod than the regula- 
tion casting rod, he can select it, though I would warn 
him to add inches with circumspection. Personally, I 
use my short caster for trolling usually and ask nothing 
better. 

My trolling reel is my favorite make of level-winding 
winch, than which there is nothing better. The line 
is a regulation casting line, well cared for and tested 
each time before setting out upon the water. There 
might be an added advantage in an unusually large 
reel, if the angler were fishing water sufficiently clear 
of weeds and other obstructions to allow an unusually 
long line. My regular casting reel will spool eighty 
yards of 28-pound test line with ease, which, in all 
conscience, is enough. A spoon from 150 to 200 feet 
distant is far enough away to attract the most wary 
muskellunge that ever lurked in weedy fastness. 

I will not spend much time discussing the type of 
spoon, for the true angler will employ his favorite in 
spite of anything I, or any other fishing editor, may 
say. Then, your favorite type or make of spoon, for 
the simple reason that you will handle it more faith- 
fully than one with which you are unacquainted. 
Therein lies the mysterious power of a certain rod or 
lure — the angler's faithfulness and care in using. My 
favorite type of spoon is the old-fashioned fluted or 
kidney, with the "Slim Eli" a close second, all well 
made and trustworthy. There is no necessity for an 
overly large blade, provided the hooks are depend- 
able and a long wire leader attached; the well-built 

160 



TROLLING FOR MUSKELLUNGE 

hooks to hold the fish, and the wire leader to prevent 
an over-striking 'lunge from severing the line above the 
spoon. The pearl spoon is very attractive from man's 
viewpoint, though I have yet to be convinced that it is 
equally attractive to muskellunge. While I have never 
seen a pearl spoon broken by the onslaught of a 'lunge, 
the possibility has always deterred me from investing 
in it to the exclusion of the old silver or nickel 
blade. It is a good plan to carry blades of various 
colors when going to unknown waters, for there are 
times when a copper or "gold" blade shows up to better 
advantage, owing to the color of the water or char- 
acter of the bottom. Still, day in and day out, there 
is nothing more attractive than the bright nickel 
blade, painted a brilliant red on the inner surface. 

I am often asked regarding the value of an orna- 
mented hook — feathers, red rag, etc. Undoubtedly 
they possess a certain attractiveness. I have experi- 
mented somewhat at length and am free to say that 
I have found the feathered hook more alluring than 
the one devoid of covering. The angler has but to 
observe a feathered hook traveling through the water 
at the rear of a spoon, and then one without such orna- 
mentation, to understand why a great pike or 'lunge 
will take the former in preference to the latter. There 
are times when, if the angler add streamers of red and 
white cloth three or four inches long, he will find that 
his lure has an added attractiveness from the fish's 
viewpoint. Then, too, the buck-tail treble is a good 
attachment for a spoon, especially if it have a tag of 
red in the center. The action of the hairs as the lure 
moves through the water is very alluring. All in 
all, I would say by all means cover the hooks. 
11 161 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

In trolling there should be no necessity for a weight 
or sinker, the long line burying the lure deep enough. 
In trolling, always allow the lure to travel as far be- 
hind the boat as is safe, for it is the distant spoon 
which lures the most 'lunge, all else being equal. 
With sufficient line out, the fisherman must have a 
care or his lure will be hooking the bottom. The boat 
.should move just as slowly as is safe, just fast enough 
to keep the lure playing free and no faster. Therein 
lies the secret of success — slow trolling. 

Perhaps I should say here, while I do often troll for 
great pike and muskellunge, I turn to the method for 
rest from more strenuous casting, not because I prefer 
the method to casting. I much doubt if trolling will 
bring as many fish to gaff as will casting artificial lures, 
though there are days when a distant spoon will ac- 
complish wonders. This I would have the reader bear 
in mind: There is no single best method of angling 
for 'lunge; he must adapt himself to conditions. The 
wise angler is ready and able to handle casting lures, 
live bait, or trolling-spoon as the exegencies of the 
fishing may demand. Adaptability is as valuable in 
muskellunge angling as anywhere. Any fisher should 
be willing to alter his methods, forget preconceived 
notions for the time, much more the 'lunge fisherman. 

There is little use in trolling or fishing with any sort 
of artificial lure when the surface of the water is glassy, 
unruffled by breeze or wind. Every trout fly-fisher 
.has discovered how useless it is to flip a fly upon the 
surface of a glassy pool in midday, and so also the 
'lunge angler will discover that his best lures and 
spoons will prove unattractive when the surface of the 
lake is a dead calm. 

162 



TROLLING FOR MUSKELLUNGE 

I remember fishing one of Wisconsin's northern 
lakes some seasons ago, a lake from which the writer 
and others have taken some good muskellunge. On 
the day in question the surface of the water was per- 
fectly still. Not a ripple nor shade of ripple roughened 
it to the slightest degree. I cast, I still-fished, I trolled, 
but all to no purpose. The best hours of the day 
passed — that is, from 4 a. m. to 7 — and I fished 
Ashless. Retiring to an island in the center of the 
lake near the south end, I prepared to while the 
time away with a book. Early rising and the sun 
made me sleepy, and soon, the book proving unat- 
tractive, I rolled over in the shade and dropped asleep. 
I slept some two hours or so before "a going in the 
trees" awakened me. A high wind had sprung up 
from the south and was kicking that lake into a very 
fury of rage. Fortunately for me the island was com- 
paratively near the south end of the lake; otherwise 
I would have been marooned for the day or until the 
going down of the wind. Quickly launching my boat, 
I set out for the south shore, paddling into the teeth 
of the gale. 

More from force of habit than otherwise, I set my 
rod in the holder and let out some 100 feet of line, a 
matter which required considerable skill, as I was 
under the necessity of keeping my light craft bow to 
the wind. Once with sufficient line out, I bent all my 
energies to facing the waves. Time and again a white- 
cap broke on the bow, spraying me disagreeably. 
With all my attention centered on the paddling, I 
gave little thought to the trailing spoon. Suddenly 
there came a jerk so strong and mighty that my little 
craft hesitated in its course perceptibly. Though click 

163 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

and drag were both set upon the reel, line was ripped 
off yard after yard. I could not pause in my paddling 
to take the rod in my hand. For once my go-alone 
proclivity had gotten me into trouble. I began to 
fancy myself in the condition of the man who wanted 
someone to help him let go the bear. 

I paddled straight for shore, shouting lustily, hoping 
against hope that the three good men and true, in camp 
beneath the trees, were at home and would hear my 
cries. After what seemed an interminable time, a 
slouch-hatted figure sauntered down to the water's 
edge and bawled, "What's eatin' you?" "Fish, muskie, 
whale!" I shouted in return. Fortunately, my camp- 
mate was quick to grasp the significance of things and 
soon a good, stout boat was putting out to my rescue. 
I was compelled to hand my rod over to them — taking 
on board a boatman was an impossibility in that sea — 
and so they landed my biggest 'lunge of the season. 
Now comes the moral of the tale: We took seven 
good fish that windy day, trolling along the shore. 
Let me add that seven good muskellunge is a bag any 
quartet of anglers can be proud of anywhere. 

I have found in muskellunge fishing that success 
depends quite largely upon the condition of the weather. 
Hot, sultry days, with no sign of wind, are apt to 
prove poor fish days, save very early in the morning, 
and not always then. Upon the other hand, raw, cold 
days, with high wind, are likely to prove very success- 
ful. The wise angler will not spin yarns by the camp- 
fire just because the weather is rough. 

In the foregoing narrative I have mentioned my 
rod-holder, a simple contrivance, which is of utmost 
worth to the go-alone fisherman. Indeed, I do not 

164 



TROLLING FOR MUSKELLUNGE' 

see how it is possible to safely troll without it. To 
lose a rod overboard is a disaster, even though the 
fisherman is fortunate enough to hook on to the line, 
as I once was. Let me say also, that once I threw over- 
board an expensive casting rig, and though we angled 
away for days it still lays in the silt on the bottom of 
the lake. Two men can troll together with advantage, 
the man with the rod sitting in the seat, facing the 
stern. He is in the correct position to watch his rod 
and play the fish. I do not like a hired boatman; 
would much rather fish, turn and turn about, with a 
brother angler. 

As to where to troll, all depends, of course, upon the 
feeding grounds and weather. In windy weather the 
fish seem to roam a great deal. Either the good fish are 
more scattered, or the movement of the water makes 
the muskellunge restless. Ordinarily the troller should 
skirt the edges of weed-beds, follow the shore if the 
water is deep enough, work out the sandbars, not 
forgetting the mouths of inflowing creeks. Probably 
the most likely territory is that of the weed-beds, for 
there the minnows and small sunfish live, and the 
muskellunge haunt such places. Upon occasion it 
seems almost as if a man can take 'lunge anywhere, 
but even as accidents happen in the best of regulated 
families, it is an accident. The angler acquainted with 
the habits of his quarry and the water is going to take 
fish, where the mere tyro will never get a rise. Knowl- 
edge is power, it is said, and I know that knowledge 
spells muskellunge. Of the two important requisites — 
fish knowledge and good tackle — the first is of greater 
importance. I do not belittle good tackle; but just the 
same, unless the fisherman knows something of the 

165 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

habits of the fish he seeks, all the tackle in the world 
will not make him a fish-getter. While Fate, Luck, or 
whatever it is that does such things, may present the 
veriest novice with a record fish on the first day out, 
she is not going to continue her unreasonable gifts 
day after day. It is the angler who knows his fish, the 
water, and how to handle tackle that continues mak- 
ing large catches. 

Much might be written upon the way of the mus- 
kellunge with a spoon, without exhausting the topic, 
for it is one of utmost interest to fishermen. As a rule, 
the spoon or lure is taken with a rush, from the rear, 
though now and then a seldom fish will steal upon the 
lure and "mouth" it carefully. I have seen a 'lunge 
follow a spoon right up to the boat without offering 
to touch it; even lie in plain sight for some seconds 
after the lure has been lifted from the water. Such 
fish are hard to hook. At times it is possible to tease 
or exasperate them into biting. Simply retrieve the 
lure with short, sharp jerks; make the fish believe that 
unless it strikes at once, the glittering tidbit will 
escape. Nevertheless, some fish cannot be made to 
bite. I have seen a good-sized muskellunge follow a 
lure curiously here and there, eyeing it malevolently, 
but never offering to touch it. I am not just clear as 
to the reason for the action. Perhaps the fish is not 
hungry, or perhaps it has had some sore hook experi- 
ence, though that would be attributing memory and a 
rather high grade of intelligence. 

There is little necessity for the angler's "setting the 
hook," once a muskellunge strikes the lure, though 
some good fishermen do swing the rod sharply to right 
or left, as the case may be. A taut line should be main- 

166 



TROLLING FOR MUSKELLUNGE 

tained ; otherwise the capture may shake out the hook. 
His leaps are not like those of the black bass. Indeed, 
they are not leaps at all, strictly speaking; simply 
wallowings on the surface. I have yet to see my first 
'lunge or pike leap clear of the water. When pulled 
strongly, the muskellunge comes to the surface, plung- 
ing about in a tackle-testing way. Obviously the 
proper thing to do with so heavy a fish is to play him 
on a taut line. Over-eagerness is suicidal. Ofttimes 
an angler says his fish escapes because insecurely 
hooked, when the truth of the matter is the rodster 
tore the hook out by main strength. The angler need 
not expect a brilliant battle from the muskellunge, 
but he should look for a well-sustained and stead- 
fastly conducted struggle. Never underrate the ability 
of a hooked fish — any fish — much less the 'lunge. Always 
play a fish until he shows the white flag in surrender, 
then gaff quickly, lest he "come back" before you are 
ready. Quite often the 'lunge surrenders all at once 
at the end of a sustained rush or after wallowing for 
some seconds upon the surface. But do not be deceived. 
There may remain in that long body rushings and 
wallowings galore. I have known fish to surrender 
incontinently after the first rush and come to gaff 
meekly. Again, I have known fish to come to life at 
the first prick of the gaff, smash tackle, break loose, 
and escape. 

One tactic of the 'lunge, which the fisherman must 
guard against, is to dash under the boat. The rod 
must be lifted out and away from the side of the craft, 
or a broken joint will result. The angler always has 
a safety-valve in his reel. Give line easily and with 
tension. In playing so heavy a fish as the muskel- 

167 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

lunge, all depends upon the fisherman keeping his 
head. Never for a moment should he lose control of 
the battle. It is easier to fight an offensive battle than 
a defensive one. A good motto for the muskellunge 
fisherman would be, "Do unto the 'lunge as he would 
do unto thee, but do it first." 

And so here is to you, you king of fresh-water fishes, 
you "wasser-wolf" of the Northland. May you long 
survive the wiles of the eager fisherman, disport your- 
self in the clear, cold water you love so well, so that 
coming generations may have the exquisite pleasure of 
doing battle with the most satisfactory pike that 
swims. 



1 68 



Chapter XIII 

The Fine Art of Pike Cooking 

"But if this direction to catch a Pike thus do you no good, 
yet I am certain this direction how to roast him when he is 
caught, is choicely good, for I have tried it. . . . This dish 
of meat is too good for any but Anglers or very honest men; 
and I trust you will prove both, and therefore have trusted you 
with this secret." — Izaak Walton. 

IF Father Izaak was right, then I need not apol- 
ogize for this chapter, e'en though I realize that I 
have no business invading the sacred precincts of 
the culinary artists. What I do not know about cook- 
ing would fill more than a single chapter. Still, I can 
make shift to cook a meal in the open and can prepare 
pickerel, great pike, and 'lunge sufficiently well for 
the sharp outdoor appetite. I want it distinctly under- 
stood, however, that primarily this chapter is not 
intended for cooks who possess the conveniences of a 
kitchen. Housewives are requested to treat this dis- 
sertation as the priest did the man who fell among 
thieves. With this sad attempt at an apology, I plunge 
into my subject. 

I honestly think that members of the pike family 
have not received their just dues at the hands of out- 
door cooks. Even the execrated and despised pickerel 
— "river snake" — does not deserve the odium heaped 
upon him. Not only is he edible, but when taken 
from moderately cold water and properly cooked, I 
hold him delicious. I realize full well that the fore- 

169 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

going statement will stir some anglers to wrath, may 
even bring me acrimonious letters by the dozen. 
Nevertheless I am ready to stand by my guns, or rather, 
fry-pans. Quite recently I was out with a friend, a 
despiser of all pickerel — to most people any pike under 
fifteen inches is a pickerel — and at noon we took two 
small fish, real river pickerel, which I fried for dinner, 
and my friend not only pronounced them good, but 
went so far as to say they were "almost as delicious as 
trout." The fact of the matter is, I would about as 
soon eat pickerel as rainbow trout when both fish 
came from the same water, were it not for the fine 
bones in the former. Naturally, a pickerel from a 
warm, sluggish slough, thoroughly impregnated with 
decaying vegetable matter, will be "off flavor." Upon 
the other hand, the same fish taken from clear, cold 
rivers will possess firm, sweet flesh. The great disad- 
vantage of the pickerel or any small pike, from the 
eater's viewpoint, as has already been pointed out, is 
the numerous bones. Just why all fish cannot be built 
on the framework of a trout, it is hard for a lover of 
fried fish to understand. So far as I can see, a trout 
handles itself as well as the sucker, say, and the latter's 
flesh is often nothing but a sort of animated pin- 
cushion of small, sharp bones, sometimes bound up 
into little bundles, as it were. 

Any fish is better food immediately upon taking 
from the water than after standing exposed to the air 
and sun or even being placed on ice. If this be true of 
such cold-water lovers as the trout, how much more 
must it be true of soft fish like the pikes. Upon taking 
from the water, if intended for food, any fish should 
be killed quickly and mercifully; not allowed to flop 

170 



THE FINE ART OF PIKE COOKING 

its life away on the hot boards of a boat bottom, or 
strangled to death at the end of a string dangled be- 
hind the boat. If pike are to be retained for any 
length of time, they should be put in a live-box or killed 
at once and placed upon ice. Always remove the 
gills, eviscerate, and wipe the body cavity clean, using 
a wisp of grass, or better, a dry cloth. Be sure all the 
reddish-brown substance from along the spine — "kid- 
neys" — is removed. Remember, moisture will hasten 
decomposition. If to be used immediately, then sever 
the head and wash out the body cavity with as cool 
water as can be found, drain and wipe dry; then place 
in the cooking vessel at once. I know of nothing more 
unappetizing and repulsive than a slimy basket of 
improperly cared-for fish. 

The pikes will not keep as well after being scaled; 
but personally, I prefer to scale my fish before leaving 
the fishing grounds whenever possible. I never take 
home more than enough for a single mess, at the most 
two, and nine times out of ten eat them on the shores 
of the river or lake from which taken. Of course, if I 
were going to ship any great distance I would leave 
the scales on. In scaling, one can use an ordinary 
knife, though one with a serrated back to the blade, 
like that advertised by the Marble Company, is very 
convenient, and any of the so-called "fish-scrapers" 
are efficient and take up but little room in the tackle- 
box. In a permanent camp nothing is better than a 
regular currycomb such as horsemen use. At the best, 
cleaning of scaled fish is a disagreeable job and any aid 
is very welcome. I have not said that fish scale 
easily when first taken from the water, a matter which 
should be emphasized. Of course, a dry fish can be 

171 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

soaked so that the scales can be removed, but such 
soaking does not improve the flavor of the meat. A 
pan of slimy, blear-eyed pickerel is not a pleasant 
task to front, and it stands to reason that fish, soaked 
for two or three hours in water more or less foul in 
washings from the other fish, cannot be in the best of 
condition for food. The point I am trying to make is 
this : The flavor of any fish flesh depends to a large 
degree upon the care which an angler has bestowed 
upon his catch. I am convinced that one reason why 
my friends find "Smith-fried" pickerel delicious is be- 
cause of the care the fish have received before they feel 
the heat of the fry-pan. It is not all, nor half, in the 
cooking. The proof of the pudding may be in the 
eating, but the proof of the eating is in the prepa- 
ration. 

A pickerel may be cooked in any of the ways that 
other round-bodied fish may. No pike lends itself to 
planking, though it can be accomplished after a fashion 
before a slow fire, if the fisherman-cook has plenty of 
time at his disposal and can possess his soul in pa- 
tience. I shall give but one method of cooking pickerel, 
for, after all, he is too small to bother with when larger 
fish can be secured, and anyway, the angler can use 
the methods for pike and 'lunge if he so desire. Now 
I will tell how I fry pickerel, great pike, or even small 
'lunge. My friends say, you remember, they are 
"almost as good as trout." 

"Smith-fried" Pickerel 

We will suppose I have caught two fish some fifteen 
inches in length, killing as soon as caught and giving 
them time to bleed. The scales are removed and, if 

172 



THE FINE ART OF PIKE COOKING 

time and utensils serve, the bodies are immersed 
for some thirty minutes or so in a salt bath, a 
treatment especially advised for fish from sloughs or 
water impregnated with decaying vegetable matter. 
Lacking time, the fish are thoroughly washed in as 
cold water as is obtainable, wiped dry, and salted. 
Three or four slices of bacon are placed in the fry-pan 
and the fat extracted. I remove the bacon and place 
on a warm plate near the fire. Now while the fat is 
smoking hot, I drop in the fish, cut up into convenient 
pieces, and fry, being careful not to burn. (Strictly 
speaking, this process is not frying, but, as the cooks 
say, "sauting." No more do I fry fish in deep fat.) 
I remove the fish from the pan to the warm plate and, 
if obtainable, squeeze over it the juice of half a lemon. 
The despiser of the "river snake" will be surprised at 
the tastiness of the dish. 

The outdoor cook may vary the dish in many ways. 
The flavor imparted by dropping a slice or two of 
onion in the fat is relished by those fond of the escu- 
lent bulb. A judicious dash of red pepper or other 
aromatic condiment will add variety. If the pickerel 
cook is working where watercress (peppergrass) can 
be gathered, a few fresh sprays should be served with 
the dish. While I prefer bacon fat for frying fish, 
there are folks who do not like the flavor. For them 
olive oil or sweet butter is preferable, though for the 
woodsman bacon is the only thing. To my mind, the 
secret of successful "frying" lies in having the fat 
piping hot and the fish dry. While I have advised 
cutting up the fish, if the pan is large enough or the 
fish small enough they can be fried whole. I know of 
nothing more appetizing in appearance than a couple 

173 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

of pickerel browned to a nicety and served with a 
garnishment of peppergrass, gathered hard by the 
home of the fish. I would not roll pickerel in cracker 
crumbs, because of the fine bones the eater encounters ; 
otherwise crumbs are an improvement. 

If one uses cracker crumbs, they should be prepared 
beforehand at home. It is a good plan to save the left- 
overs of bread, thoroughly dry, and pulverize. This 
can be done with a rolling-pin or meat-chopper; then 
pass through a fine sifter so that the crumbs will be 
of an equal size. After pulverizing, dry out thoroughly 
in the oven. They will keep indefinitely, if kept dry. 
A small sack in the outfit will be found convenient 
when needed. In order to use crumbs successfully, 
the cook should have an egg batter in which to dip 
the fish before rolling in the crumbs; otherwise the 
crumbs will not adhere to the fish. The foregoing 
applies to the frying of any pike, save that a large 
fish must be cut into rather thin slices, not over an 
inch thick, to cook successfully. 

Baked Great Pike 

Perhaps there is no more delicious way to serve 
a large great pike — the larger the better — than to bake 
it. So cooked, as Walton would say, "he is choicely 
good." For baking, one should catch nothing smaller 
than a five-pound fish; a ten-pounder would serve 
better. Once I had the privilege of preparing half of 
a twenty-four-pound great pike and, take my word 
for it, the result was a dish fit for an epicure. Par- 
enthetically: One can imagine a hotel range of suffi- 
cient length to accommodate a thirty-pound fish, but 
the reader must remember that I am writing of out- 

174 



THE FINE ART OF PIKE COOKING 

door cooking, and my reflecting baker is but eighteen 
inches long, therefore the big fish must be served in 
halves — let us hope, quarters. 

With a reflecting baker it is possible to cook a fish 
to a nicety before an open fire, for the heat can be ab- 
solutely controlled. All other cooking should be done 
at a separate fire. The more coals and the less flame 
the cook has the better job he will do. It is a wise 
precaution to have a little pile of small twigs ready, 
dry as tinder, so that should the heat diminish, the fire 
can be quickly started up again. Then, too, a hot fire 
at the last will give the body that delectable brown 
which is so inviting even to jaded appetites. 

The fish should be dressed as described for frying 
and cut to fit the baker. Remove the head, as it 
takes up so much room. Place the fish in a dripping- 
pan, having first thoroughly anointed the surface of 
the body with bacon drippings or butter and seasoned 
to taste. A slice or two of bacon should be placed in 
the body cavity and one or two in the pan. Butter 
or drippings can be used. Cook slowly; otherwise the 
meat will be dried out and rendered flat and flavorless. 
The secret of cooking before the fire is care. Do not 
allow the pan to cool, nor yet burn the fish. 

This dish can be varied by "stuffing," if the cook so 
desires and possesses cracker or breadcrumbs. Stale 
bread can be used. Moisten the bread with cold water, 
kneading with the hands. Squeeze out all the water 
•possible. Add a lump of butter the size of an egg, or 
bacon drippings. Season with salt, pepper, and sage, 
or finely chopped onion. The addition of finely 
chopped bacon is an improvement, whatever the other 
seasoning. If the cook is partial to oysters and has a 

175 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

can of "coves" in the commissary, they can be chopped 
up or used whole, as fancy may dictate, and used in 
place of the bacon. Endless variations will occur to 
the mind of the natural outdoor cook. This "stuffing" 
can be placed in the body of the fish and the opening 
closed with several windings of string, or it can be 
heaped in one end of the pan. Some people like the 
"stuffing" well browned. So cooked, the flesh of a 
great pike from the north country or muskellunge is 
dry, flaky, sweet, and toothsome. A better and more 
tasty dish it is hard to imagine. 

A sauce is not needed for baked pike, but can be 
prepared, of course, if the cook so desires. There are 
any number of sauces, though a simple butter sauce 
may serve for the base. Put two large tablespoons of 
sweet butter in a pan and add a tablespoon of flour, 
a teaspoon of salt, and a liberal dose of black pepper. 
Rub these ingredients together until thoroughly 
mixed, then add about half a cup of boiling water, 
place in a fry-pan and cook two minutes, and pour 
over the fish. This can be varied by the use of milk 
in the place of water; or, the butter can be melted in 
the pan, and when it bubbles, add the flour and cook 
thoroughly; remove from the hot fire, but keep sim- 
mering and stir in the milk slowly. This makes a white 
sauce. Chopped onions, chopped watercress, pickles, 
green peppers, in fact any highly flavored relish can 
be added; young wild mustard leaves are not half 
bad. It is simply wonderful the amount of vegetables 
the woods afford, vegetables that can be eaten in the 
place of well-known domestic varieties, and that can 
be used for seasoning and garnishes. Personally, I do 
not much care for a sauce for baked fish, for baked 

176 



THE FINE ART OF PIKE COOKING 

pike needs no addition other than the outdoor appe- 
tite to make it palatable. 

Boiled Great Pike 

"Why should anyone boil a pike?" methinks I hear 
someone ask. Well, if a party is spending a week or 
two in camp, a change of diet is desirable and wel- 
come. If conservation of food becomes necessary be- 
cause starvation lurks behind every tree, then boiling 
is in order to retain every atom of life-sustaining ele- 
ments in the fish. Even the water in which the meat is 
boiled can be drunk. May that never be the reader's 
portion. "But to return," as the Chautauqua lecturers 
say. Undoubtedly boiled fish as a regular diet, would 
pall upon the appetite, but for a change now and then 
it will be greeted joyously by hungry campers, espe- 
cially so,» if well and toothsomely prepared. 

The larger the fish, the better. Cut up into convenient 
sections for the camp kettle, carefully tying each piece 
in a cloth bag if procurable, so that the flesh will not 
fall apart and be "lost" in the broth. Have the kettle 
two-thirds full of boiling salted water (note the empha- 
sis upon the word "boiling"), to which the juice of a 
lemon or a gill of vinegar has been added. (If on a 
hard trip, citric acid in crystals will be carried in place 
of either.) Boil slowly until done (about eight minutes 
per pound). Of course if the cook has any cooking 
pot of so unwieldy a shape as to fit the body of a pike, 
he can cook the fish whole. Onions, spices, or horse- 
radish can be added to the water, if one likes highly 
seasoned dishes. The camp epicure will demand a 
sauce. Directions for making one have already been 
given. 

12 I77 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

Pike Chowder 

I have said, "Fish chowder is more enjoyed in 
prospect than in actuality. To my mind, this is one 
of the dishes to which distance lends enchantment." 
That was written before I knew. Culinary is one of 
the progressive sciences. I have learned how to make 
fish chowder. 

Cut up several slices of salt pork — I use bacon 
usually, though it is not orthodox — and fry in the 
kettle in which the chowder is to be made. Now the 
real chowderist would use nothing but an iron kettle, 
though the migratory camper will employ his alum- 
inum kettle. Have ready, sliced, one quart of potatoes 
and onions. When the pork is fried, the "juice" ex- 
tracted, add the onions, then the potatoes, and water 
enough to just cover the vegetables. When half 
cooked, taste to see if salt enough; if not, add more, 
and a dash of pepper. If fond of highly seasoned 
dishes, a dash of red pepper will give a "kick." Lay 
the fish, cut into convenient pieces, on top of the 
vegetables and cook. By cooking the fish on the 
vegetables, the flesh does not come to pieces as it does 
in the old method, scattering through the ingredients. 
When cooked, add milk and serve. In using evap- 
orated milk it, of course, must be used in a dilute form. 
Some do not like the milk flavor, and for them it can 
be left out. This is a delicious dish. 

Planked Pike 

While the shape of a pike does not lend itself to 

planking, it can be accomplished with a little care. 

Secure a plank of sweet hardwood two or three inches 

thick and long enough to accommodate the whole fish. 

178 



THE FINE ART OF PIKE COOKING 

Just a word about that plank. One can split it out of 
a tree, though the green wood will steam slightly and 
render the flesh too moist. By far the best plank I 
have ever employed was a bit of wreckage rescued 
from Lake Superior. It is easy enough to find wood 
that can be used, along the shores of any large body of 
water. Somehow the soaking seems to give the wood 
a cleansing and sweetening that it otherwise does not 
have. Of course the plank must be dry in order to 
secure best results; if wet, it must be laid away to dry. 
In a permanent camp the board can be kept from 
season to season, with proper care. In migratory 
camping the fisher-cook will be compelled to put 
up with a poorer plank. Now for the planking of a 
pike. 

Dress the fish, leaving the head on. Cut down the 
back, severing the ribs on one side close to the spine, 
and spread out the fish, fan-shape, skin side to the 
board, and nail securely. A number of nails will be 
required, for as the flesh cooks it falls away. I have 
covered the fish with a coarse wire screen nailed to 
the board. Worked well. Screen should be of white 
wire and thoroughly cleansed, certainly. Of course 
the fish will be salted and peppered to taste. It adds 
to the flavor, I think, to pin several slices of bacon 
along the backbone. Set the board up before the fire 
lengthwise and tend carefully, keeping an even heat, 
turning the fish often. Baste with a slice of bacon 
fastened to a twig, holding it so that the drippings 
will run over the fish. The secret of successful plank- 
ing is care, a slow fire, and patience. Serve on the 
plank on which cooked, garnished with peppergrass, if 
it can be secured, for its wild flavor is an improve- 

179 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

ment. A well-planked pike is a dish fit for a hungry 
fisherman. Save the plank; you will use it again. 

Pike Baked in Clay 

Here again it is possible to cook a whole fish, though 
this method requires greater skill and forethought 
than even the former. The first thing necessary is the 
right kind of clay — red or blue. The second requisite 
is the right kind of fire. Dig a long trench, consider- 
ably longer than the fish, fill it with hard wood, and 
burn down to coals. Keep this up until the trench is 
full of glowing coals ; pile on some more hardwood, lots 
of fuel, and go out and catch the muskellunge or great 
pike, the larger the better. I put building the fire 
first, for the cook cannot successfully — I nearly said 
artistically — clay a large fish without first having had 
a hot hardwood fire for at least six hours. The ground 
— preferably sand — around the trench must be hot 
and plenty of ashes and glowing coals all about. Ob- 
viously a one-day stand is no place for clay-baking. 
Time, patience, care, and right conditions are all 
essential to success. 

Granted we have the right variety of brick clay. 
Mix a mortar, somewhat moist. Lay the fish down in 
the soft clay without scaling or eviscerating. Rub a 
coating of the wet clay against the scales, filling the 
gills and mouth. Do not use too much mortar for the 
first coat. Dry by the fire for a few minutes and re- 
peat the operation. Two or three — perhaps more — 
coats will be required before the fish will be sufficiently 
well encased. Dry between each coat. When the 
whole fish is covered with a sheet of clay an inch or 
so thick, lay it by the fire ten or fifteen minutes, turn- 

180 



THE FINE ART OF PIKE COOKING 

ing now and then so that it will properly harden, and 
the fish is ready for the trench. Rake out part of the 
coals and lay the pike in its warm bed. Cover with 
coals and ashes. A large pike will bake in from two 
to three hours. The more clay added to the body the 
longer it will take to cook and the more certain the 
results. A good fire should be maintained on top of 
the trench. When everything is ready, the hungry 
fisherman waiting to be served, dig out the brick, 
crack open with the camp ax, remove the backbone 
and "innards," the latter shrunken to a little ball, 
sprinkle with salt and pepper, and eat. The unini- 
tiated will be surprised and delighted with the todth- 
someness of the dish. As I said of planking pike, so 
I say of this method of cooking : All depends upon the 
cook's thoroughness and attention to details. 

Perhaps some of my readers will think I have gone 
into this matter of cooking with too much thorough- 
ness, while others may complain that I have not 
been thorough enough. The angler who cares for 
nothing but catching fish will have found this chapter 
more than tedious, should he have read so far, while 
the angler-cook — and he is constantly on the increase — 
will regard this as the most worth-while chapter in 
the whole work. When "Trout Lore" first appeared, 
more people wrote me about a certain method of 
cooking trout therein described than regarding any 
other topic, unless perhaps it was fly-tying. The fact 
of the matter is, the dyed-in-the-wool angler is an 
embryonic cook, interested in all toothsome ways of 
serving his captures. To delegate the cooking of fish 
in the open to the guide, be he ever so expert, is not 
the most enjoyable way. He who would sap the last 

181 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

drop of the juice of enjoyment from his sport should be 
able to cook in the open, not merely make shift at it. 

The angling writers of a day long since passed al- 
ways added a chapter upon cooking to their tomes 
upon the pleasures of angling. "The Book of the 
Pike," by H. Cholmondeley-Pennell, published in 
England in 1865, gives in the appendix many re- 
ceipts for cooking pike. Also in the more recent 
volume, "Pike and Perch," one of the "Fur, Feather, 
and Fin Series," the English author sees to it that his 
readers are provided with a very interesting disqui- 
sition upon "Cookery of the Pike and Perch," going 
back in the history of the art to the day when pike 
was spelled "pik," and book, "boke." Cookery is as 
ancient a "sport" as angling itself, and a sport where 
one runs as great chances as in playing a twenty- 
pound muskellunge. 

So I come to the conclusion of my self-appointed 
task, a task that has been a pleasure. I wish here to 
thank all my friends throughout the country for their 
many kindnesses, letters of advice and gentle crit- 
icism. If I have produced a work worth while, no 
thanks are due me; the credit is all yours. So here 
endeth "The Book of the Pike," with a characteristic 
sentiment from that oldest book upon angling, "A 
Treatyse of Fysshynge Wyth an Angle:" "The pyke 
is a good fysshe: but for he deuouryth so many as well of 
his owne kynde as of other: I loue hym the lesse." 



182 



APPENDIX 



The Possibility of Hybrids Between 
Great Pike and Pickerel 

[Note. — I am indebted to Forest and Stream, of New York, 
for the privilege of republishing here this chapter, which originally 
appeared in that well-known outdoor periodical. Also I am in- 
debted to the Journal of Heredity for the facts, as well as the 
cut, with which it is illustrated. — Author.] 

Every angler who has given any thought to the 
matter cannot fail to be impressed with the great 
likeness between the pickerel and the great pike. 
For, as has been pointed out in the foregoing pages, 
were it not for the squamation of the cheeks and gill- 
covers, not always could an observer be certain of 
any given specimen. The reader has learned that 
color and form are not sufficiently constant to serve 
as a certain identification. This being true, the pos- 
sibility of a cross or hybrid has undoubtedly sug- 
gested itself to the thoughtful mind of the angler. It 
is a matter of record that supposed crosses have been 
discovered in nature in one or more characters, fish 
showing a condition intermediate between great pikes 
and pickerels. Of course when those specimens have 
been taken, the question has arisen whether or not 
such fish are mere "sports," a mutation, or the actual 
result of cross-fertilization. Undoubtedly few crosses, 
comparatively speaking, occur in nature, for nature is 
more careful in such things than is man. 

When this paper appeared in Forest and Stream it 
brought the writer any number of letters and criti- 
cisms, favorable and otherwise, some anglers main- 
taining that a cross was an utter impossibility, while 
others had "caught lots of them." It is difficult to 
say which attitude of mind is the most reprehensible. 

185 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

There would seem to be no good reason why cross- 
fertilization might not quite frequently occur between 
pickerels and great pikes, unless nature has endowed 
them with a great and insurmountable antipathy for 
each other, for structurally and in habits they are 
essentially alike. At the time of spawning, a ripe 
female, companioned by one or more males, swims 
about erratically over the shallows or inundated 
marshes. Eggs and milt are ejected from time to 
time, here and there, each ejection being accompanied 
with violent tail lashings and bodily contortions, 
effectually distributing both milt and eggs over a 
considerable area. Now as great pike and pickerel 
spawn at practically the same time (indeed, spawning 
pickerel have been observed crossing the path of 
spawning great pike more than once), suppose this 
crossing should take place at the proper moment, it 
is inconceivable but that some of the eggs from both 
species of females should be impregnated by the milt 
from the males of opposite species. Would such acci- 
dently impregnated eggs "hatch" and develop into 
fish? It was to answer the question satisfactorily that 
Mr. G. C. Embody, of Cornell University, conducted 
a careful and lengthy series of experiments, as reported 
in the Journal of Heredity for October, 191 8. I now 
quote from his article: 

"On March 30, 191 7, the eggs from a 30.5 cm. pickerel having 
typical characters were artificially pressed into a moistened pan 
and covered with milt from a male pike likewise typical of its 
species. The reciprocal cross was not attempted. About 70 
per cent of the eggs developed normally, and those not pre- 
served for future study hatched in from six to ten days. A few 
of the young were reared in an aquarium to lengths varying 
from 3.8 c, to 6.4 com., after which they were transferred to a 
small newly made artificial pond of stagnant water. When six 
months old, three specimens were captured and gave lengths of 
15.2, 13.8, and 9.1 cm., respectively." 

This is of utmost interest, for it proves that cross- 
fertilization is possible, at least artificially. Further- 
more, in the artificially produced hybrids the scaling 

186 



' 




HEADS OF PIKE, PICKEREL, AND HYBRIDS 

1. Head of adult pike. Extent of scale covering on operculum (gill-cover) indicated 

by white line. 

2. Head of adult pickerel, operculum fully scaled. 

3. Head of artificially produced hybrid. 

4. Head of supposed hybrid, captured in Cayuga Lake, N. Y. White line indicates 

extent to which scales cover operculum. 

Courtesy "American Journal of Heredity." 



APPENDIX 

of the gill-covers is extended down on the portion 
joining the cheek, as never occurs in the true great 
pike. (Study the illustrations taken from the Journal 
of Heredity.) In other words, the squamation of the 
hybrid partakes both of the nature of the great pike 
and pickerel. The supposed wild hybrids have ex- 
actly the same squamation. Therefore it seems al- 
most safe to conclude that if the angler should be so 
fortunate as to capture a fish with the peculiar scala- 
tion given in the illustration, he would be justified in 
concluding that he had a hybrid pickerel. It would 
be exceedingly interesting to know if the hybrid would 
reproduce, a matter I deem exceedingly doubtful, for 
the chances are it would prove a "mule" (infertile). 
If it did reproduce, would its progeny partake of the 
characteristics of the hybrid, or would it "throw 
back" to either the pickerel or great pike form? There 
seems to be no answer. (A friend of mine who is a 
trout breeder has carefully selected albino trout, 
strong and vigorous fish, hoping to reproduce them, 
but he insists that they are infertile, a matter which 
I can but doubt until further evidence in support of 
his claim be brought.) 

In coloration the hybrid, which the reader under- 
stands is an immature fish, resembles the immature 
great pike much more closely than it does the imma- 
ture pickerel, the diagonal light bars with dark areas 
between them being distinct in the first two and to- 
tally lacking in the last, the markings being those of 
the so-called "chain pickerel." If these markings are 
constant, the fisherman should have little difficulty 
in differentiating between the great pike minnow and 
the pickerel minnow, though he might easily be con- 
fused if given a great pike and hybrid. The author, 
upon whose findings I am basing this paper, holds 
that the chances are in favor of the mature hybrid 
resembling quite closely the mature great pike, the 
resemblance being so striking in the immature speci- 
men. One examining the illustrations accompanying 

187 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

the original article in the Journal of Heredity cannot 
help being impressed with the similarity of the head of 
the artificially produced hybrid with that of our well- 
known "wall-eyed" pike or pike-perch. I have shown 
the picture referred to to a number of anglers and all 
have asserted that it is a "wall-eye" without doubt. 
Yet it was the artificially produced hybrid. Of course 
it may be the fault of the photographer, for I know 
how difficult it is to reproduce the marking of fish 
faithfully with a camera. In this case the head is 
undoubtedly much nearer the camera than that of the 
adult pickerel. 

The author concludes his article with the following 
"Summary of Finding," which it is worth our time to 
give verbatim: 

"The overlapping spawning time and the spawning behavior 
of the pike (Esox lucius) and the pickerel (Esox reticulatus) are 
such as to permit of the possibility of a natural cross. 

"The eggs of the pickerel may be artificially impregnated 
with the milt of the male pike and may develop into healthy 
hybrids. 

"Artificially produced hybrids and supposed natural hybrids 
are identical in scalation of the opercula, showing a condition 
intermediate between typical pickerel and pike. 

"Typical adult pike and supposed natural hybrids' are iden- 
tical in color pattern. 

"Juvenile pike and the artificial hybrid are identical in color 
pattern. 

"Thus there is a probability that mature artificial hybrids 
will resemble in color pattern the supposed natural hybrids. 

"These facts seem to favor the assumption that pike and 
pickerel occasionally cross." 

Since my paper appeared in Forest and Stream I 
have had the pleasure of examining carefully two 
specimens, both of which I am firmly convinced in 
my own mind were crosses. One I took myself, while 
the other was shipped from Minnesota for identifica- 
tion, the thought of the gentleman who sent it being 
that it was "a new variety of wall-eye" (pike-perch). 
In both cases there was a very decided wall-eye "cast 
of countenance," something which I find of great 
interest. Indeed, one might easily have passed both 

1 88 



APPENDIX 

of the fish as sauger or sand pike (Stizostedion cana- 
dense), a small form of the ordinary wall-eye, were it 
not for the fins and color. A careful examination in- 
stantly disclosed how un-wall-eye-like they were, 
going to prove how easily any careless observer might 
be fooled as to the identity of a specimen. 

You who have read the preceding pages of this book 
know how similar the pickerel and great pike are in 
habits, therefore you are not surprised to learn that 
artificial hybrids have been produced, and will not 
be surprised if some time you take a great pike or a 
pickerel differing in squamation from any other fish 
on the string. 



189 



II 

A Day's Still- Fishing for Great Pike 
With Live Bait 

It seems wise, even though I have written of still- 
fishing for muskellunge, to recount the happenings of 
a clay's still-fishing for great pike, with a few sugges- 
tions regarding the tackle and methods employed. 

I had long considered the great pike a fish to be 
taken with cast lures, cast live bait, and trolling spoons, 
though I had never resorted to still-fishing methods 
with minnows. Just why is not exactly clear in my 
own mind, as I look back over my ichthyic experiences. 
There was no thought in my mind that still-fishing 
was unsportsmanlike, for long ago I came to the con- 
clusion that sportsmanship consisted of something 
other than tackle. Probably the chief reason why I 
had not resorted to still-fishing was because action, 
movement, effort, have always appealed to me. I got 
to thinking over the matter, the result being that I 
resolved upon investigating the merits of still-fishing 
for great pike. The lake to which I turned my atten- 
tion was a much-fished Middle West body of water, 
one from which now and then a good fish was lifted, 
but only semi-occasionally, because the great pike 
were very wary as the result of much persecution. I 
got my minnows, then waited for a "pike day." 

The securing of good minnows for still-fishing for 
so large a fish as the great pike is something of a 
problem. In still-fishing the angler can use com- 
paratively large minnows, from six to eight inches 
long — young fish in fact. One will not undertake to 
catch such bait with a minnow dip-net, nor will he, 
unless, fortunately situated, resort to a seine. About 

190 



APPENDIX 

the most successful — I nearly said only — method is 
to fish for bait with a hook and line. Probably the 
most taking bait is a small bit of angle worm, though 
bait minnows can be taken with an artificial fly. By 
the way, the taking of bait minnows with a 2>£- 
ounce fly-rod is not a poor sort of sport in itself. More 
than once I have gone after bait minnows in the morn- 
ing with my lightest mountain-trout rod and become 
so enamored of the sport that I have fished for 
minnows all day long. A creek with deep pools is 
almost certain to offer chubs six to ten inches long, 
and the one provided with a sufficiently large pail will 
have little trouble in capturing a dozen or two in 
short order. (I have just touched this matter here, 
as I have in preparation a book upon live-bait fishing.) 
Now to turn to my great-pike fishing. 

I watched over my dozen chubs with jealous care 
while waiting for the advent of a perfect "pike day," 
but come at last it did, as do all things for which we 
wait long enough. I recognized "der tag" when I 
rolled out of bed in the morning. We had been treated 
to a thunderstorm some time during the night, and 
when the sun came up he looked out over a rough 
lake, while the wind chased the raveled remnants of 
storm clouds across the sky. I hurried through my 
breakfast, and, with that old reliable "six-foot-six" 
bait rod, tackle-box, and pail of minnows, I was soon 
bounding over the angry waves, for the wind had 
cuffed them till they foamed with rage. One must 
have a rough sea in order to secure the most remuner- 
ative still-fishing. 

I chose my location just off a long line of weeds, a 
lily bed, where the water was fifteen or twenty feet 
deep, perhaps deeper. I saw to it that I selected my 
position so that the wind would blow me off-shore. 
Then I let go my anchor and my boat bobbed and 
dodged at the end of her rather lengthy tether. You 
see, if worst came to worst (which would be the crown- 
ing of the best) I could sever my anchor cord and be 
blown out to sea. I could get away from the anchor 

191 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

by a simple slash with my knife in case I connected 
up with one of the mythical "big ones," in which case 
an anchor rope might lead to as disastrous an entangle- 
ment as the murder of some tin-crowned prince in a 
two-by-four country. The reader may smile at my 
forethought, but to it I attribute the successful issue 
of more than one ichthyic struggle, and in this case — 
but read on. 

I have already said the rod was the old tried and 
true "six-foot-six," though it might have been the 
regular caster or long cane pole, though if the latter, 
then fitted with reel-bands and line guides. Personally, 
I prefer the shorter rod for the fishing. My reel was a 
large level-winder, the one that happened to be cleaned 
and in perfect condition, and there was a second in 
my tackle-case, in case of accident. It held eighty 
yards of line. My hook was large, No. 7-0, provided 
with a ten-inch piano-wire gimp and swivel. I placed 
a float on the line in such a position that the hook 
would almost reach the bottom, but not quite. There 
was such a sea running that I found it necessary to 
attach two large sinkers. I know it sounds like "shark 
tackle," but, after all, a big great pike is a sort of 
shark, in nature, at least. 

I selected my minnow from the pail, an eight-inch 
chub, that reddish-black variety, with little warts or 
knobs on its nose, called locally "horned dace." I 
thrust the large hook through the body of the bait 
about midway between head and tail and below the 
backbone. To pierce the latter would be to kill the 
bait, and I desired that it remain alive as long as 
possible. Hooked, I tossed it into the rough water 
and the waves quickly carried it away from the boat, 
out as far as I would allow it to go. I had a rod- 
holder in my tackle-box; it I fastened to a boat-seat, 
slipped the rod in, and settled back to rest, invoke my 
soul, and admire the view. The reader will readily 
understand that the waves tossing the float or "bobber" 
up and down kept the bait in motion. That is one 
reason why I selected a windy day, though, as every 

192 



APPENDIX 

pike fisherman has discovered, all pike roam far and 
wide in search of food in stormy weather. 

I could not keep my eyes fixed on the red-and-green 
float for the life of me, the ever-changing panorama 
before me proved so attractive. The angry black 
water, streaked with long, white streamers of foam, 
looking not unlike the streamers of clouds whipping 
across the sky, formed a picture, the like of which I 
have never seen on canvas. How many "storms at 
sea" our art galleries display! But whoever yet saw 
a wind-blown lake? I was the only fisherman out, 
therefore I had the water to myself, a little matter 
for which I think I was duly grateful. 

Perhaps half an hour or more passed before the float 
dived beneath the surface, though I did not know the 
precise moment when it disappeared, only I looked for 
it and it was gone. Quietly I took the rod from the 
holder, "felt the fish," discovered it was on, and set 
the hook. Instantly that line came to life. To any- 
one who has had a lurking suspicion that my tackle 
was unduly heavy, I can only say I wish you had held 
that rod. If any doubt the gameness of the common 
every-day great pike, are tempted to call him a "miser- 
able pickerel," to them I can also say, I wish you had 
held that rod. It was a great battle while it lasted, 
and when at last I brought the six-pound great pike 
alongside the dancing boat and placed a .32 bullet 
right between his eyes, I was well satisfied with still- 
fishing with live bait for great pike, not imagining 
what a wonderful experience Dame Fortune held up 
her sleeve for me. It is a fact that good fortune as 
well as ill fortune is more than apt to repeat. One 
seldom catches a single fish. 

Once more I baited up, which is always an interest- 
ing and important operation, for the minnow must be 
properly impaled in order that it may live as long as 
possible; for while a dead minnow, kept in motion by 
the tireless waves, will catch great pike, one swimming 
freely is far and away more attractive. The hook 
must be thrust through in such a position that the 

13 193 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

minnow will balance as perfectly as possible; otherwise, 
when it dies, it will hang head down or tail down. 
"Too particular," did I hear you say? Well, my par- 
ticularism has given me fish when the other fellow 
failed, so I continue being particular. I watched the 
float bob away, knowing that the uneasy minnow down 
below could but prove attractive to any foraging great 
pike moving about. So I thrust the rod into the 
ready holder and settled back in my easy seat, for I 
had seen to it that I was provided with a back-rest. 
No necessity for being uncomfortable when one might 
just as well be comfortable. 

The minutes slipped unregarded by, for I had all the 
time there was and was not impatient. That is one of 
the beauties of still-fishing. One can invoke his soul 
and think his thoughts without interruption. So small 
and unimportant an object as the green-and-red 
"bobber" could not hold my attention with the wide 
lake open before me. The clouds were thickening up, 
perhaps hinting of more rain before night, though the 
constantly freshening breeze seemed to preclude that 
contingency, and it was blowing from the southwest, 
too. A pair of loons came toward me, bobbing over 
the water, facing into the waves in a way that made me 
envy their power. Even while my eyes were fixed upon 
them my "bobber" must have gone down, for when I 
turned my attention to the fishing, the float had dis- 
appeared and the line was running from the reel 
gently. 

I jerked the rod from the holder and attended to 
the reel forthwith. The click and drag had not been 
sufficient to hold the fish, the waves making enough 
noise to prevent my hearing the click's warning. 
Though nearly all the line was gone, no harm resulted, 
and I brought that great pike back where he belonged 
in short order. It was quite a battle, owing to the 
heavy sea, but the rod conquered, as it has always had 
a habit of doing, and I settled the old fellow with a 
pill from the .32 and added him to my string, after 
the scales said he weighed a flush five pounds. I was 

194 



APPENDIX 

a wee bit disgusted to discover that the fish were 
running smaller, and I mentally promised myself that, 
if the third should be off another pound, I would quit, 
urged to the decision by the constantly increasing 
wind and roughening lake. 

The third minnow, a fine big sucker all of nine 
inches long, was committed to the deep without cer- 
emony and taken off by something before it had 
reached the bottom; taken with a rush, too, that sub- 
merged the float and ripped yard after yard of line 
from the reel. I baited up once more, only half in- 
terested in the game, for the waves were really too 
obstreperous for my craft, and it was large and stable. 
Hardly had the fourth minnow touched the water 
than it was taken in a manner that left no doubt as to 
the fish's intent. As the rod was not yet in the holder, 
I gave the butt with all the force I dared, and no one 
can convince me, however impossible it may be, that 
I did not feel that hook go home. I knew I was fast 
in a good fish. And the battle was on. 

Before I realized it I discovered that I was drifting 
away from the weed-bed — that I was adrift. The 
anchor rope had broken. It was just as well, for if 
that fish circled the boat once, he circled it a dozen 
times. My line was new and my hook, hand forged. 
Neither did I tremble for the piano-wire leader. It 
came from a tackle house whose name is a passport for 
quality. The only thing that worried me was the 
mounting sea, already well past the safety mark. I 
would have given almost anything for a boatman. 
For once it seemed that my go-alone proclivity had 
gotten me into serious difficulty. Eagerly I looked 
about for some chance boatman, without being re- 
warded, and I told myself bitterly, "You are the only 
fool out here to-day." Fortunately the boat did not 
upset, though the waves splashed in until everything 
was soaked. The revolver I slipped into the pocket 
of my waterproof coat in order that it might be dry 
when needed, though I wondered if I should ever use 
it. It was a great battle, not so much on my side as 

195 



THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 

on that of the fish. He did the fighting, I sat and held 
the rod. Even if he did the fighting, I could see that he 
was tiring, a matter for which I think I was sufficiently 
thankful. 

In time I began to catch glimpses of his white belly 
through the waves as he rolled with them, and I was 
glad; for we were approaching the shore, and I only 
prayed that the boat might remain afloat until I reached 
shallow water. And Fates, the Red Gods, whatever 
you please, were on my side that day. The fish was 
not destined to escape, and I was. Suddenly I could 
catch glimpses of the sand, and with a great shout of 
relief I stepped out into the waist-deep water and 
started for the shore, the fish lunging and plunging 
behind. It was not a very satisfactory, a very sports- 
manlike finish, but the tackle was good and the fish 
unusually big. I just run him up on the sloping bank, 
where I literally fell upon him and held him down 
while I sent the quieting shot into his brain. The 
fight was over, the fish mine. My boat came in, 
a-swash, it is true, but with all my paraphernalia safe, 
though soaked. 

Eagerly I fished out my scales, shook the water out 
of them, and lifted the great fish up. With astonish- 
ment and gratification I gazed upon the marker — 
zg}4 pounds. It must be written out in capital let- 
ters — TWENTY-NINE AND ONE-HALF POUNDS ! That, tOO, 

after I had written "The Book of the Pike." Do you 
wonder, reader, that this story finds a place in the 
appendix ? Surely you will agree with me that without 
the story of the undoing of my largest great pike, this 
volume would be incomplete. J 



196 



ADDENDUM 

My self-appointed task is done. Another volume of 
the series of fishing books I have in mind is about to 
leave my study to journey to the publisher and the 
public. It is my book no longer. And I strangely 
find myself loath to let it go, so much of myself is 
written into it, bound up in it. I think it is something 
like the experience that comes to us when our girls 
grow up, marry, and go away into the world. Some- 
thing has gone out of our lives, ours yet, but ours no 
longer. This book is yours, reader, and when you 
reach this page I hope and trust you will have en- 
joyed your journey one-half as much as I did mine, 
blazing the trail. You have found things to criticize 
and you have found things to praise. Be kindly in the 
first and moderate in the latter, and I shall be satis- 
fied. Little book, good-bye. It does not seem to- 
night that I can love the book I shall begin upon to- 
morrow as much as I do you. But be that as it may, 
I shall always have a warm place in my heart for you. 
Again, little book, good-bye. 

The Author. 



197 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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